We sometimes imagine holiness happening in obviously religious places.
Holiness happens during worship.
Holiness happens while reading Scripture.
Holiness happens at the Lord’s Table.
Holiness happens during prayer.
And certainly it does.
But what about Monday morning?
What about washing dishes, answering emails, sitting through meetings, packing lunches, changing diapers, repairing equipment, teaching students, caring for aging parents, managing employees, dealing with customers, and trying to remain patient with the person who has asked the same question three times?
Can holiness happen there?
From a Wesleyan perspective, the answer is a resounding yes.
John Wesley’s vision of holiness was never meant to remain inside the church building. The goal of sanctification is a heart filled with love for God and neighbor.
And neighbors have an inconvenient habit of showing up everywhere.
They live in our houses.
They sit in nearby cubicles.
They call during dinner.
They work the other shift.
They stand ahead of us in the grocery store.
They need things when we are tired.
If holiness is holy love, then ordinary life is one of the primary places where holiness must become visible.
Holiness Is Love
When Wesley spoke about Christian perfection, he was not describing flawless performance.
He was describing mature love.
Jesus identifies the heart of faithful life when he says:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ … And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37, 39, NIV).
For Wesley, these commandments describe the direction of sanctifying grace.
God’s goal is to heal our disordered loves until love for God and neighbor increasingly governs the heart.
Kenneth Collins, in The Theology of John Wesley, emphasizes this restoration of holy love as central to Wesley’s understanding of sanctification. Grace does more than pardon us. Grace restores the image of God within us.
That means holiness is not simply avoiding certain sins.
Holiness is becoming a certain kind of person.
Patient.
Generous.
Truthful.
Merciful.
Faithful.
Humble.
Loving.
And the best place to discover whether those qualities are actually developing is often not Sunday morning.
It is Tuesday afternoon.
The Problem With Sunday-Only Holiness
It is possible to behave like a saint for an hour on Sunday.
We know the environment.
We know the expectations.
We know the vocabulary.
Someone says, “How are you?”
We say, “Blessed.”
Then we get in the car and argue about where to eat lunch.
Ordinary life has a way of revealing us.
Home reveals our patience.
Work reveals our integrity.
Conflict reveals our humility.
Money reveals our priorities.
Interruptions reveal whether we actually believe other people matter.
This is not bad news.
These moments become opportunities for grace.
The Holy Spirit is not merely interested in how we behave inside a sanctuary. The Spirit wants to transform the whole person.
Paul writes:
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17, NIV).
Whatever you do.
That covers quite a bit of territory.
Your Home Is a School of Holy Love
Some of the most important spiritual formation happens at home.
Home is where people see us without the polished version.
Our families know whether we are actually patient.
They know whether we apologize.
They know whether we listen.
They know whether our faith makes us more loving or simply more opinionated.
That makes family relationships powerful arenas for sanctification.
Marriage can teach us self-giving love.
Parenting can teach us patience.
Caring for aging family members can teach us tenderness.
Living with other people can teach us forgiveness.
Even ordinary household responsibilities can become practices of service.
There is nothing glamorous about emptying the dishwasher.
But love rarely waits for glamorous opportunities.
Holiness Looks Like Listening
One of the simplest ways holy love appears in relationships is through attention.
We listen.
Not merely until it is our turn to talk.
Not while constructing our rebuttal.
Not while checking our phone.
We give another person our attention because that person bears the image of God.
James writes:
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19, NIV).
That sounds simple until someone says something with which we strongly disagree.
Then listening becomes spiritual discipline.
Holy love does not require us to agree with everyone. Christian love is not pretending differences do not exist.
But love refuses to reduce another person to the thing about them that frustrates us.
Listening can therefore become a work of mercy.
We make room for another human being.
Apologizing Can Be a Means of Grace
Holiness at home also requires two words Christians sometimes find surprisingly difficult:
I’m sorry.
Sanctification does not mean we become incapable of mistakes.
We misunderstand.
We speak too quickly.
We become impatient.
We make selfish decisions.
We hurt people.
Growing in holiness means grace increasingly teaches us what to do next.
Instead of defending ourselves automatically, we learn repentance.
Instead of explaining why the other person should not be hurt, we listen.
Instead of protecting our pride, we seek reconciliation.
Jesus places enormous importance upon restored relationships:
“First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24, NIV).
Sometimes one of the holiest things we can do is walk across the room and admit we were wrong.
Work Is More Than a Paycheck
The same vision applies to our work.
The Christian understanding of vocation begins with the conviction that our lives belong to God.
Some people are called to ordained ministry.
Most Christians are not.
That does not mean most Christians lack a calling.
Teachers have vocations.
Electricians have vocations.
Nurses have vocations.
Farmers have vocations.
Accountants have vocations.
Mechanics have vocations.
Business owners have vocations.
Stay-at-home parents have vocations.
Artists have vocations.
Retired people still have vocations.
Vocation is larger than employment.
It is the faithful offering of our lives and gifts to God for the good of others.
Paul writes:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23, NIV).
That changes how we think about work.
The question becomes more than, “What do I get from this job?”
We begin asking, “How can I love God and serve my neighbor through the work I have been given?”
Excellence Can Be an Act of Love
Doing good work can itself become an expression of love.
A carpenter who builds something carefully serves the person who will use it.
A nurse who pays attention serves the patient.
A teacher who prepares well serves students.
An accountant who acts with accuracy and integrity serves clients.
A mechanic who refuses to recommend unnecessary repairs practices love of neighbor.
A manager who treats employees fairly practices love of neighbor.
Excellence becomes Christian when it is directed toward service rather than ego.
We do good work not merely so people will admire us.
We do good work because people matter.
Integrity Is Holiness at Work
Workplaces also give us countless opportunities to practice integrity.
Will we tell the truth when lying would be easier?
Will we take credit for someone else’s work?
Will we participate in gossip?
Will we treat employees as people or merely as resources?
Will we exploit a customer because we can?
Will we cut corners when nobody is watching?
Will we treat the person cleaning the building with the same dignity we give the person running the company?
Holiness becomes concrete very quickly.
Wesley’s first General Rule was simple:
Do no harm.
That rule belongs in every workplace.
Do no harm with your words.
Do no harm through dishonesty.
Do no harm through exploitation.
Do no harm through gossip.
Do no harm through indifference.
Christian ethics begins by recognizing that the people affected by our work are our neighbors.
Then, Do Good
But Wesley did not stop with avoiding harm.
His second General Rule was:
Do good.
This moves Christian vocation from passive innocence toward active love.
Ask a coworker how they are doing and actually listen.
Encourage someone who rarely receives recognition.
Mentor a younger employee.
Speak up when someone is being treated unfairly.
Be generous with credit.
Practice patience with difficult people.
Use authority to help rather than intimidate.
Look for opportunities to make another person’s burden lighter.
Most of these actions will never be dramatic.
That is precisely the point.
Holiness is usually built through small acts of love repeated over time.
Difficult People Are Also Our Neighbors
Every discussion of holy love eventually encounters a difficult reality.
Some people are hard to love.
There are difficult coworkers.
Difficult customers.
Difficult relatives.
Difficult neighbors.
And somewhere, someone may occasionally include us on their list.
Jesus does not allow Christian love to remain limited to people we naturally enjoy.
He says:
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44, NIV).
Loving difficult people does not mean tolerating abuse, refusing appropriate boundaries, or pretending destructive behavior is acceptable.
Love can confront.
Love can establish boundaries.
Love can tell the truth.
But love refuses hatred.
That is where sanctification becomes very real.
Anyone can love people who are easy to love.
Holy love begins showing its supernatural character when grace enables us to seek the good of people who frustrate, disappoint, or oppose us.
Our Work Can Become a Work of Mercy
Wesley famously held together works of piety and works of mercy.
Prayer matters.
Scripture matters.
Fasting matters.
Holy Communion matters.
And serving our neighbor matters.
We sometimes imagine works of mercy as activities added to an already crowded schedule.
Volunteer at the food pantry.
Visit someone in the hospital.
Serve at a shelter.
Those are important.
But perhaps we should also ask whether our daily work can become a work of mercy.
Does our work contribute to human flourishing?
Does it help people?
Does it create something good?
Does it protect others?
Does it teach?
Does it heal?
Does it provide?
Does it solve problems?
Does it make communities stronger?
Not every task will feel spiritually significant.
Sometimes a spreadsheet is just a spreadsheet.
But even ordinary tasks can participate in a larger vocation of loving and serving our neighbors.
Success Looks Different Through the Eyes of Grace
Our culture often measures vocation through salary, title, influence, productivity, and advancement.
Those things are not necessarily wrong.
But they are inadequate measures of a Christian life.
Jesus asks different questions.
Were you faithful?
Did you love?
Did you tell the truth?
Did you serve?
Did you use what you were given for the good of others?
Did your work make you more generous or more self-centered?
Did success deepen your gratitude or inflate your pride?
Did you see the people around you?
A person can have an impressive career and fail profoundly at love.
Another person can perform work the world barely notices and quietly become a saint.
The kingdom of God uses a different résumé.
The Means of Grace Prepare Us for Ordinary Holiness
None of this means we no longer need explicitly spiritual practices.
Quite the opposite.
We need prayer because loving people is difficult.
We need Scripture because our desires need continual reorientation.
We need Communion because we need nourishment in grace.
We need Christian community because we need encouragement and accountability.
We need fasting because our appetites need training.
We need worship because we forget who God is and who we are.
The means of grace are not escapes from ordinary life.
They prepare us to live ordinary life differently.
We gather on Sunday so that we can follow Jesus on Monday.
We receive the body of Christ so that we can become the body of Christ in the world.
We hear, “Go in peace,” and then discover that peace must be practiced in traffic, kitchens, meetings, classrooms, workshops, and homes.
There Is No Ordinary Place
This may be one of the most beautiful implications of Wesleyan holiness.
There is no part of life in which God is uninterested.
Your kitchen matters.
Your office matters.
Your classroom matters.
Your marriage matters.
Your friendships matter.
Your conversations matter.
Your decisions about money matter.
The way you treat employees matters.
The way you treat customers matters.
The way you speak to your children matters.
The way you care for your parents matters.
The way you respond when tired matters.
All of life can become an arena for grace.
Not because every moment feels spiritual.
But because every moment can become an opportunity to love.
Holiness Comes Home
Perhaps we sometimes make holiness too complicated.
We imagine extraordinary spiritual achievements.
Wesley points us toward something both deeper and more demanding.
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Do no harm.
Do good.
Stay close to the means through which God gives grace.
Then carry that grace into ordinary life.
Pray in the morning.
Then practice patience at breakfast.
Read Scripture.
Then tell the truth at work.
Receive Communion.
Then make room at your table.
Sing about grace on Sunday.
Then extend grace on Tuesday.
Ask God to fill you with holy love.
Then love the person standing in front of you.
That is where Wesleyan theology becomes wonderfully practical.
Holiness is not simply something we seek at the altar.
It is something grace teaches us to live at home, at work, and everywhere in between.
A Closing Prayer
Gracious God,
Make us holy in the ordinary places of our lives.
Fill us with your love so that our families, coworkers, neighbors, customers, friends, and strangers encounter something of Christ through us.
Give us patience when we are tired, integrity when compromise is easier, humility when we are wrong, courage when we must speak, and mercy when others fail.
Teach us to see our work as an opportunity to serve and our relationships as places where holy love can grow.
Through prayer, Scripture, Communion, Christian fellowship, and works of mercy, continue your sanctifying work within us.
And when we leave the sanctuary, remind us that your Spirit goes with us into kitchens, classrooms, offices, workshops, hospitals, homes, and every other place where our neighbors are waiting to be loved.
In the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
