Holiness

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy… Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect… He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” Leviticus 19; Matthew 5; 1st John 2

Wow! What a command. You must be holy, perfect, righteous. Perhaps the most religiously abused command ever given from God to his children, and yet it remains the command in which all others are encompassed. Upon hearing this command from Almighty God, we have two roads on which we may travel.

The first, and most popular, route is a venture into the art of excusing the Bible of God’s commands. This way begins with self-focused questions such as, “How could God expect this of me?” or “How could I ever possibly attain such?” with tones of “surely not” and “that’s impossible.” Unfortunately so much of our modern theology seeks to explain away the reality of God’s holiness, and we are now beginning to see the destructive realities of such a route.

The second way, as glorious as it is strait, is to embrace holiness. Here is the high adventure into the life of trusting and treasuring, beginning with God-centered questions such as, “Lord, how will You do this?” and “ Where can I join You in the process?” True theology calls for the recognition and acceptation of God’s beautiful holiness along with the ensuant charge upon our life.

Though the gate is narrow, the way strait, and only a few find it, let us embark on this great adventure of taking God at His word. Let us treasure our Lord for who He truly is. Let us trust Him to light the path that leads us to holiness – that leads us in God.

Divide

“Christ in you, the hope of glory… Proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1

“Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” Luke 9

Christians must be defined by growth. But we err grievously when personal growth and church growth become our quest. For in such pursuits we work directly against the revealed Kingdom formula for growth. Individual Christians, as well as their corporate expression through the church, must grow according to God’s economy. It is good that we explore and apply an assortment of resources and programs for growth. But, we must implement these tools according to the pattern that represents God’s way of conducting business.

Christians multiply by dividing. Churches multiply by dividing. There is no other way; there are no shortcuts. If our focus is to build ourselves into stronger Christians or our churches into larger churches, we will fail – not for lack of resources and not for a deficiency in intentions – we will fail because we choose to work outside of God’s mathematical equation for growth. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” (Ephesians 5)

If we desire growth – true growth – we must give ourselves away. Individually we accomplish this through one-to-one discipleship as we commit to walk beside another through thick and thin striving “to present everyone perfect in Christ.” As churches, we must find creative ways to give ourselves away corporately to other churches and ministries.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." John 12

Find a way to give yourself away…find a way to grow.

Bread

I find an interesting connection between the fourth and seventh chapters of Matthew. In the former, Jesus is tempted by Satan to turn the stones that surround him amidst his wilderness fast into bread. In the latter, Jesus assures us that God will never give his children stones in the place of bread. The immediate context of chapter seven is discernment – directing us to discern the ways of God’s Kingdom. In short, our Heavenly Father promises never to give us stones. Our responsibility, then, is to trust that the stones that plague our lives are truly bread from Heaven. In chapter four, Satan tells Jesus to turn the stones to bread. He exploits Scripture hoping to lead the Son away from the Father – essentially petrifying the bread of life. Jesus in turn tells Satan that the stones are bread, for the Father is using them to draw him to feast upon the wonders of divine fellowship. Time and time again God has brought things into my life that are hard – miserably hard. I am tempted to toss them, skip them, kick them, or just walk around them, all the while complaining that God would allow such stones in my life. How great it could be to stop, trust, draw near, and worship. “Father, this sure looks like a stone, it sure feels like a stone, but I trust you, please show me how this could be bread.” I am equally tempted toward stealing the sweet bread of God, tucking it in my shirt, and scurrying off into the world, only to find that apart for the intimate presence of the Father it has turned to stone. Every warm loaf from Heaven’s breath has the potential for desolate petrifaction. Every cold stone from the world’s indifference has the potential for savory nourishment. The difference? The direction. Draw near to the Father…stay…trust…feast.

Entropy

“Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1

One of these natural portals, through which to view God, is the 2nd law of thermodynamics. This natural law, referred to as entropy, observes that left alone, all physical processes will decay. All chemical reactions will inevitably reach equilibrium and cease. Such a state is observable on the “dead” planets in our solar system. We can also see this on Earth. One example is the oxygen in our atmosphere. Oxygen is one of the most volatile elements of creation, in that it readily combines with virtually any other element. For Earth to foster life, its air must contain 21% free oxygen. Any more and the planet bursts into flames, any less and the air is toxic. According to entropy, free oxygen (left alone) would rapidly combine with any and all elements possible and decay into equilibrium. But it doesn’t. Why? Because the physical processes that foster life on Earth are not left alone.

“The Son reflects God’s own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of his command.” Hebrews 1

“He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17

“In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.” Job 12

If our Lord were to remove His influence from Earth, all physical systems would decay to a point of chemical equilibrium and to the point of death. How exciting to see God’s intimacy in even the most basic facets of life.

This natural law frames a revelation of God’s spiritual nature. All spiritual systems, left alone, will spiritually decay.

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered.” John 15

It is not enough to come to a savior for the creation of a relationship with God. We must also come to a sustainer of fellowship within that relationship.

“Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Hebrews 12

Jesus has come to give us life and to sustain that life in Him. Invite Him to stir things up in you.

Fool

Foolishness is measured in the expanse between what we learn and what we live.

The Bible is replete with description of and prescription for the fool:

“The fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet; a babbling fool will come to ruin; the mouth of a fool brings ruin; fools die for lack of sense; the way of a fool is right in his own eyes; wisdom is too high for a fool; crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle…yet his folly will not depart from him; the fool and the stupid alike must perish; the fool cannot understand; fools hate knowledge; fools get disgrace; doing wrong is like a joke to a fool; the heart of fools proclaims folly; a fool flaunts his folly; to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools; the companion of fools will suffer harm; leave the presence of a fool; the folly of fools is deceiving; a fool is reckless and careless; the folly of fools brings folly; the mouths of fools feed on folly; the mouths of fools pour out folly; a fool takes no pleasure in understanding; A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating; like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool; whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool; the fool walks in darkness; the lips of a fool consume him; the toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city; the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity; claiming to be wise, they became fools; foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them;; the fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’; O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense.”

Our level of personal foolishness is directly proportionate to the span between what we know and what we apply. When we know more than we practice, we play the fool. When we practice more than we know, we play the fool.

“Fools despise wisdom and instruction… everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man.”

Discern

Discern - to separate, distinguish between, to detect with senses other than vision, to recognize or identify as separate and distinct, right from wrong, to come to know or recognize mentally, to see or understand the difference.

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.” Philippians 1

“Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5

Discernment can only grow by “reason of use,” and this use takes place in the relationship of teaching. Too many Christians today have settled for an incessant role as learner. It is not humility to assume the learner’s position – it is rebellion against God’s call on all his children. Yes, not all should presume to take on the corporate position and responsibility of Teacher, but all Christians are called to enter into the relationship of teaching through the covenant of discipleship. We occupy this planet during an unprecedented time of accessible religious and spiritual information, yet we are plagued with immaturity within Christianity. This enigma is due not to a lack of learning, but rather to the abandonment of teaching. It has been said that the teacher has not taught until the student has learned. It would seem that Scripture adds to this that the student has not learned until he or she begins to teach. We cannot sit in the pew listening to sermons or in the office reading commentaries and expect to experience maturity – the kind of true maturity that is evidenced by discernment. We must commit to the sacrificial and humble discipline of teaching.

Try

Much of our Christian life could be described as trying. Not the “severely straining the powers of endurance” kind of trying, though there are those times. The “to make an attempt at” trying. We try to be a better Christian, try to serve more faithful, try to worship truer, try to give more, try to attend more, try to love more, try to sin less, and sometimes we just try to get by. I wonder if we’re missing the point. My oldest daughter and I took a walk together the other day to address some of these “trying” things. We had walked for quite a while trying to resolve these issues of trying when it occurred to us that God never tries. He simply is. If God never tries and we try to get closer to Him through trying, haven’t we essentially excused God from the process? I’m not questioning the validity of the desire to be a better Christian, a more faithful servant, a truer worshiper, etc. I’m questioning our means of attaining it. We need to stop trying and start being. I think God wants to be with us. I think He accomplished everything it takes in Christ. I think it is our responsibility to embrace who we are in Him and bask in being with Him in the duration of each moment. My guess is that in living this way, God will continue to shape us into that better Christian today then we were yesterday. My guess is that in doing so He won’t have to try. It was at this point in the walk that I realized that, regardless of the issues, I had just spent a significant part of my day walking hand in hand with my beautiful daughter. Oh what joy! The joy of being together. Thank You, Lord.