Holiness. What does it mean? who is it for? why do we keep hearing about it? Surely this was something out Grandparents and Parents talked about, but doesn't apply today, right? I mean even in the pentecostal churches, holiness is seldom preached. Is it dead?!?
It depends on your translation. But should it be dead? Didn't Peter tell us many times to be Holy?!?
In todays world it is increasingly difficult to truly understand what is asked of us as Christians. More to the point, it's easy to be mislead by things we read, and hear. Think about the information flow of today's world. I know I never wait for the evening news to find out what's going on. From twitter, to facebook to the new phrase "google it" that everyone knows, information is a real part of our lives.So much so that we take it for granted.... Do you even remember what it was like to have to go open an encyclopedia? To have to leave your house to do research? to wait all through the day till 6PM when walter Cronkite would tell you what is going on in this world? Heck, I take my phone to the bathroom in the morning, forget doing downstairs for a paper, or turning on the TV for news. I know what the overseas markets did last night while I slept and can tell you of political events occurring thousands of miles away before I've even wiped the salt from my eyes.
But is this a good thing? is this a healthy thing? I don't know., but it is the world I find myself living in. Day by day the rules of the past don't apply any longer and looking at the world, we see the all familiar political correctness movement plowing it's way into the minds of not only our children but all too often ourselves.
So again, I ask what is holiness? and does it apply? do we need it any more? do I need it any more?!?!?!
YES!!!! a hundred times over yes!
In the letters Peter wrote he spoke about holiness! and in (II Peter the 3: 15-18) it sounds not all that different from the world of today.... "15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."
I was reading from Ezekiel 40 and 41 this morning. It struck home!!! Here was a man who 14 years after the destruction of the temple found himself seeing the EXACT messurements of everything,from the size of the bolts on the door to the layout of the palm tree decorations. Why would God go to the trouble of all that detail????
Simple. God's plans are perfect. and if you are going to go through the prossess of rebuilding the temple, you might as well do it right. maybe I'm getting ahead of myself... the casual reader may ask what are you talking about? what does the rebuilding of the temple have to do with Holiness?
I argue that it is the same thing! God has an exact plan for our life. The instruction manual is the word and we all know He has been here since the beginning.....
So what about Holiness? I understand that there needs to be a line between living a life holy and acceptable unto God and placicing so many rules down that we set ourselves and worse yet our children up for failure......
I agree that the days of "no shorts, movies, jewelry, makeup, bowling, dancing etc...." are behind us and should stay there. But where does that leave us?
It leaves us responsible to find the correct path God has laid down for our lives and it leaves us to listen to the convictions of the Holy Spirit, and it leaves us to find new ways to be accountable to God. We can't leave Holiness in the dirt and move on. Because as senseless as some of those rules sound to us (enlightened?!?! LOL Hahahahahahahahahahaha) Christians. Those rules were set up not to be shackles but to be road maps leading christians in the right direction and looking out for our people as parents look after their children.
At two years of age, you tell your daughter to stay away from the stove. He or she may not be ready to understand the concept of fire being good and bad. So we don't try to explain the hard stuff, we say "stay away from that! Danger!!!!
The dances at schools are a place where two young people full of hormones find their selves moving very close to one another in a sensual way with the lights turned down and we as adults know where that can lead..... Unfortunately, those children have knowledge that we may not even have and they won't see the warning as a loving display of parental caring. They will look at us if we tell them they can't go to the dance like we have 2 heads and realize right away that we are stupid... They know they know more than us, so they don't listen. they rebel and what have we done to ourselves and our authority?
So can they go to the dance? Hey, that's up to you. But I can see where the rules come from. I don't have all the answers. I only know that we cannot compromise so much that we forget why those rules existed.
A long time ago, I heard the gentle reminding voice of God telling me not to do something. That it was bad and if I didn't get it under control, the consequenses would be bad. Not only did it effect my relationship with God, because anyone who truly worships God knows when we feel like we just aren't feeling it. We are usually even smart enough to understand why we aren't feeling it, and if we don't listen to the gentle voice now, we find ourselves in a position like mine......
Our Christian life shouldn't be a roller coaster, but if we stumble and fall, it can sure feel like we have just been flung from a roller coaster traveling on the bumpy tracks at 60+ MPH....... Believe me I do!
So today I find that I need to make sacrifices in my life. I need to get back to the plan God has set for my life. I may not understand the small portion of the blueprint that I can see, but I know God has the finished plan all set.
So as before I'll walk my road one day at a time.........
No comments:
Post a Comment