I was having breakfast with Carlos at Sunrise Restaurant this morning. And I was like, “So what you got going on these days?” And he was like, “I’m going to the mountains with my comrades to consider how to be holy, for God is holy (1 Peter 1:16).” And I asked, “What misconceptions come to mind regarding that command?” And Carlos said, “ ‘Be holy’ can easily be misconstrued to mean ‘be like the Pharisees,’ but Jesus explicitly contrasts true holiness with the holiness hoax happening with the Pharisees when He says, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees who like to walk around in long robes, and make long pretentious prayers.’ ” And then I was like, “Keep going!” And then Carlos was like, “Jesus shows us what real holiness looks like, and it looks similar to the way people pursue their hobbies (e.g. rock climbing; marathon running; CrossFit; college football fandom & tailgating; having babies; etc.). In other words, people pursue their hobbies as the joy set before them, and that’s the way Jesus does holiness. Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” We LOVE eating! We don’t think of eating as burdensome & irksome, but the fact of the matter is that A LOT of hard work has to happen in order to eat! Jesus intends to envelope us in His joy. Similar to the way Hunter & Lauren Rosenberg aim to enfold folks into the painstaking pleasure of Iron Tribe (even collecting monthly payments from people to inflict pain on them), so Jesus resolves to compel us to enter His Joy (Matthew 25:23). Holiness is Jesus’Joy-Centric! (#JJC). Even when Jesus is feasting on the will of His Abba in the Garden of Gethsemane (sweating blood, deeply troubled, and pleading for a ‘Plan B’), it is the joy-set-before-Him to participate in the painful & scandalous will of His Padre (Hebrews 12:2)! So God says – ‘Prepare your minds for action, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ’ ”