Lord God, help me to be holy, as you are holy …

Leviticus 19:1-18 & Matthew 25:31-46
  
Great un-holiness is caused by turning a blind eye to the needs of others. I miss out on participating with God in loving human kind when I become so absorbed in my own agendas in life that I have no time for corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting the imprisoned.  When I, like Jesus, take time to truly be merciful, then I, like Christ, become holy enough to endure rejection and suffering, to rise again in the glory of God.  Lord God, help me be holy, as you are holy. 
                      
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. Psalm 19:7
                                                        
Soli ad gloriam dei

What is God’s holiness like? This hymn gives language to some of that great  mystery.:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, your great Name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, you rule in might;
Your justice like mountains high soaring above
Your clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all life you're giving — to both great and small;
In all life you're living, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish—but naught changes thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Your angels adore You, all veiling their sight;
But of all Your rich graces this grace, Lord, impart
Take the veil from our faces, the evil from our heart.

All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendour of light hiding Thee,
And so let Your glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in His story, Your Christ in my heart.
Rev. W. Chalmers Smith.  With poetic updating of language and using the original version of last two stanzas from Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life, 1867