We love our neighbors when we show them who God is through our holiness (Matthew 5:14-16), when we tell a better story with our lives than the one the world is telling:

Holiness chooses reconciliation over anger (Matt. 5:21-26), a counter-narrative to outrage culture.

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Holiness honors people instead of objectifying them (Matt. 5:27-30), a counter-narrative to using people, defining and identifying people by their sexuality and their perceived sexual value.

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Holiness values marriage instead of dismissing it (Matt. 5:31-32), a counter-narrative to easy, no-fault divorce and redefining marriage any way we'd like.

Holiness keeps its word (Matt. 5:33-37), a counter-narrative to flippantly making and breaking promises.

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Holiness gives instead of retaliates (Matt. 5:38-42), a counter-narrative to selfishness, revenge, and looking out for number one.

Holiness loves the unlovable and the enemy (Matt. 5:43-48), a counter-narrative to tribalism.

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Holiness give for God's pleasure instead of man's praise (Matt. 6:1-4), a counter-narrative to public philanthropy to show how good we are.

Holiness acknowledges dependence on and desire for God (Matt. 6:5-18), a counter-narrative to self-reliance and self-exaltation.

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Holiness treasures the eternal instead of temporary (Matt. 6:19-24), a counter-narrative to consumerism, materialism, greed, prosperity gospel.

Holiness is confident in God's provision, not anxious (6:25-32), a counter-narrative to the myth of control & accompanying worry /6

Holiness seeks first God's kingdom and his righteousness (Matt. 6:33-34), a counter-narrative to building our own kingdoms through our own means.

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Holiness attends to the log in one's own eye before the speck in another's (Matt. 7:1-6), a counter-narrative to self-righteousness and a critical spirit.

Holiness expects good things from our Father and asks for them (Matt. 7:7-11), a counter-narrative to an orphan mentality./8

Holiness treats others as one desires to be treated (Matt. 7:12), a counter-narrative to getting even.

Holiness enters by the narrow gate and the hard way (Matt. 7:13-14), a counter-narrative to the expectation of ease, comfort, and convenience.

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Holiness withstands the storms of life because its house is built on the Rock (Matt. 7:24-27), a counter-narrative to the collapse that comes with a house built on shifting sands.

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"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works... /11

... and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

// This counter-narrative, this better story, cannot be lived out unless we understand that we have already failed (and will continue) to do so; that we must look away from ourselves and to Jesus.

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Jesus lived the holy life, the better story, that we never could, for us. He settled our debt, defeated our enemy, and reconciled us to God. He rose again, securing a better ending to this story than we could've imagined.

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Jesus says all the Law and Prophets depend on the two great commandments: love God, love neighbor. He also says, "I did not come to abolish the Law, I came to fulfill it." (Matt. 5:17) We can be holy because Christ has fulfilled the Law for us.

#TelllABetterStory

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