Growing In the L-rd: Learning Biblical Ethics

I was reared in a "holiness church," which stressed, above everything else, an outside, visible, standard of holiness. Having grown up in that, I have rejected it, because my experience was that I did not see biblical holiness commonly lived out there. However, I am in pursuit of holiness. Not the froufrou of the outside stuff -- of what to wear, how to wear my hair, whether or not I wear a hat, don't do this, don't do that, etc.

That is not enough. I want biblical holiness.

So first, I ask myself this: what do I know right now of biblical holiness -- off the top of my head, without the research? Then this is how I understand it:
◌ Biblical holiness does not mean being weird or odd in how I dress, etc., as is sometimes taught.
◌ Biblical holiness does mean set apart unto G-d. "Set apart unto G-d" means living in the world but separate from it in that I do not have the attributes of those who are without G-d; that means I must live as though I have had a profound, life-changing encounter with the Almighty.

From what I presently understand, when I say I am in pursuit of holiness, I am simply in pursuit of doing what He asks in all areas of my life at all times under all conditions, not in pursuit of seeing myself on some high ledge so that I can look over it at all those "below." I do not believe that holiness will turn me into some holier-than-thou persona who sits enthroned in her own place, high and lifted up. Rather, I believe it will bring humility, servanthood, and a desire to follow biblical concepts as far as I am humanly able through the gifts, presence, and enabling of the H Spirit, the Teacher.

In other words, I am in pursuit of biblical ethics. In that pursuit, besides the Bible (usually the NASB), one of the main books I am using is Telushkin's A Code of Jewish Ethics, Volume 1, You Shall Be Holy, copyright 2006, Bell Tower, NY, ISBN 978-1-4000-4835-9. This book will be quoted, and its ideas mention -- often.

I intend to write what I learn, as well as the ways I fail, in that pursuit: this is my goal.

So here, I stand; here, I begin.