“God says, We have to go there.  You are not well. Not whole and holy yet, not through and through.  I want you to have life, but you won’t really have it until you are whole and holy.”

There is so much packed into this one statement John Eldredge infers in his book, Walking with God, and I want to take a few moment and dissect this.

Again He states - you are not whole yet, and you won’t really have life until you are whole and holy.

What does it mean to be whole? What are we talking about?  Well a life of wholeness is something God desires and wants from and for us - let’s look at this a little deeper.

What does wholeness mean?

Looking in Webster’s dictionary:

1. Free of wound or injury

2. Fully recovered from a wound or injury, restored entirely

Restored entirely!! That’s something I want!  Let’s look at this even further. 

The word wholeness is from the exact same root as holiness.  The English word holy dates back to at least the 11th Century with the Old English word hālig, an adjective derived from hāl meaning whole and used to mean ‘uninjured, sound, healthy, entire, complete’. The Scottish ‘hale’ (health, happiness and wholeness.) is the most complete modern form of this Old English root. The modern word ‘health’ is also derived from the Old English hal.

So let’s now go back into the Old Testament.  Turn to the book of Leviticus.

Leviticus 20:26 states:

“You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”

This act of being holy - being whole, complete as God intends us to be.  God separated His chosen people, the Israelites to be His holy race - set apart for Him.  So there was an act of separation.

This is an important concept.  In order for us to become whole - there must be a separation.  This very separation can be removing the “agreements” we have made in our heart, those things that are holding us back from the full, abundant life Jesus give us (see John 10:10) - that’s even in the quote that we began with! In the NET translation it states more and better life than we ever dreamed.

This separation also applies to sinful ways of the world, etc.

Let’s put a picture on this.  Think of bread dough.  If there is air in the dough, then once it is baked and sliced, there will be holes in the slice.  From the outside it looks whole, complete - the way bread is intended.  But it really isn’t - it can’t serve its purpose…try to make a sandwich and everything falls through!  That is why the air must be separated from the bread - to avoid the holes.

That’s why there must be an act of separation.  This process is alluding to the pruning and cutting away that God does in our lives - separating out what is not holy, and preventing us to grow.

Pruning and Care.  In order to bear good fruit and continue to grow - to be whole, we will go through seasons where we must be pruned.  Past sins, attitudes, former self-conceptions, pride, agreements, and the list goes on.  Although painful when in the midst of it, the pruning is essential and in the end will be beautiful.  John 15:2 (and 3) states: “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”  Though difficult at times, the love of Jesus is found throughout every season, and His care will surpass all others for comfort and preparation as every season turns.

This bring in a final point to the process of returning to that “whole” state in the Lord: undergoing sanctification .

Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit shapes us into more holy and Christ like people. It’s a natural part of a Christian’s growth in spiritual maturity. 1 Peter 1:1 and 2 states:

 ”¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, ²who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood”

Through this, we can see that God has set us apart to be a people set upon His will, His ways, His love.  Set apart to be holy - whole in Christ.  In order for us to remain in a state of being whole - we must yield to the work of God separating us from that which puts those “dough holes” in our lives - to refine us so that the impurities, those agreements we have made rise to the surface, a skimmed off, and we become a complete, whole follow of Christ, fully recovered from that which holds us back from the life God want for us.