For This Very Reason

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.” 1 Peter 3:9-11 

We were called to bless.  

I have written about this verse before, but it continues to reverberate in my heart. There is more I need to learn here.

I have always thought of a calling as something wonderful and important, like being a missionary or a pastor or teacher – certainly there is a calling to be a mother or father. But as I was reading this verse the other day, that phrase struck me again: to this you were called. To bless! To this I was called: bid, called forth, called by name, invited.¹ To be honest, how often is blessing others at the front of my mind as I am going through my busy day – especially blessing those who are doing me evil or reviling me? But this verse says that is the very reason that God called my name, called me to follow Jesus. I wondered – to what else are we called? This is what I found: 

We are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 

And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. Romans 1:6 

We are called to have fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord. 

God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9 

We are called to endure suffering for doing good, without retaliation, trusting our lives to God. 

For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:19-23 

These last two callings together remind me of this verse: “… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death …” (Philippians 3:10) 

We are called to one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. 

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6 

We are called to be free. 

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13 

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32) 

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2 

We are called to be completely humble and gentle, patient, bearing with each other in love.  

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3 

You were called to peace. 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15 

There is not a lot of peace these days. Yet, we are called to let Christ’s peace “rule in your hearts,” to seek peace and pursue it” (1 Peter) and to “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4: 3). 

We are called to be holy. 

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 1 Thessalonians 4:7 

… to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:2-3 

We are called to His eternal glory. 

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10 

Lord, help me to remember that I am yours, and I have a calling to bless, to love, to walk with you, to endure suffering, to seek peace, to live a holy life. That is the reason you called me. And, as I go through my days, give me the grace and strength – the everything – that I need to do your will and bring glory to you who called me by name. 

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ … Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-8, 10-11 

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus … Hebrews 3:1 

¹Definition from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. 

Photo, Helping Hand, by Howard J https://flic.kr/p/2iKzd6h

From the Inside Out

Did you ever notice that when God told Moses to set up the tabernacle, he was instructed to do it from the inside out – starting with the ark and the Holy of Holies and going out (Exodus 40:1-33), ending with the outside courtyard? 

Then the Lord said to Moses: “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month. Place the ark of the covenant law in it and shield the ark with the curtain …

Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work. Exodus 40:1, 33 

What struck me was that they didn’t get the whole thing set up and then with great pomp and celebration bring in the ark at the end. They started with the ark, the place where they met with God, worshiped God, heard from God. They continued doing that as they built out from there. From the inside out. Isn’t that such a picture of the work of sanctification, of working out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)? 

And then I read again the words of Jesus: 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30 

The little word translated “with” three times in this verse is the Greek work ek or ex (ἐκ, ἐξ) and actually means “from out of, out from and to, out from within.” The HELPS Word-studies¹ says about this word that it, “has a two-layered meaning (‘out from and to’) which makes it out-come oriented (out of the depths of the source and extending to its impact on the object).”

This is the same word that is used in these verses: 

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Matthew 12:35 

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. Matthew 15:18 

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots (or from the roots up). Mark 11:20 

So, it struck me that Jesus is saying, “Love the Lord your God out of, or out from the depths of, your heart and out of your soul and out of all your mind and out of your strength.” And, as Jesus said this, he was starting from the most inside place – the Holy Place, our hearts where the Holy Spirit resides in us, meets with us, speaks to us – and going out to the most outside place, our abilities, might, power, strength. 

This means that our love for God is meant to come out of our inward parts, from our center, from our roots up, and not just be pasted on the outside because of a perceived obligation, or for show, or to get attention/approval/respect, or to earn our salvation. This kind of loving God is the opposite of what the Pharisees did. In fact, the same word, ek or ex, is used in Jesus’ blistering criticism of the Pharisees as hypocrites.  

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside (ek) you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:27-28 

Jesus was condemning the fact that, on the inside, from where love and adoration and worship should flow outward toward God, in their out-from-and-to place, was instead hypocrisy and wickedness. And “loving” God was confined to an outward show.  

Let me not be like that! Help me love you Lord from my heart first, out from the Holy Place, out from where the ark of my Temple stands, the place where you told Moses, “I will meet with you there” (Exodus 25:22). Let me be still there before the Mercy Seat and know you, and hear your voice, and receive your commands for each day. And then let your love flow out from there, filling my soul and my thinking, and giving me the grace and strength I need to love you and obey your commands and be your representative here on earth. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you (any hurtful, wicked, way of pain, idolatry), and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) 

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me (in my heart, my inward part, my center), bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1 (ESV) 

For more on this subject, you can read Out of the Heart. 

¹Copyright 2021 by Discovery Bible 

Image in the Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glow_(Unsplash).jpg  

Burning Bushes

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up … God called to him from within the bush … Exodus 3:2, 4 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Revelation 22:17 

God got Moses’ attention with the flames that didn’t burn up the bush. Once He got Moses’ attention, He called to him from within the bush. J.D. Walt recently wrote that we are called to be burning bushes too. 

“The only reason the Word of God has been bound into books is so it might become unbounded in our hearts, our minds, our very flesh and blood bodies and unleashed through our lives in the world. We are meant to become living bearers, holy manifestations, burning bushes, Spirit filled fiery pillars of the Living Word of God who is Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah.” — J.D. Walt, The Only Problem with the Bible¹   

We are meant to become burning bushes, givers of light that are not consumed, God drawing through us.  

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14 

… you shine as lights in the world as you hold forth the word of life … Philippians 2:15-16² 

There is another way that we become light in the world. When we become living sacrifices and God’s cleansing fire falls on us. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 (ESV) 

And just as people were drawn to the burning bush, they are drawn to the flame of the sacrifice and can turn to the Living God. In the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:16-39) there is a foreshadowing of this drawing when fire from heaven fell and burned up Elijah’s sacrifice, and the adherents of Baal worship confessed that the Lord is God. 

Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!” 1 Kings 18:38-39 

Oswald Chambers wrote of the call of God coming out of the flames of yielding. 

“If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, ‘Come,’ then He will continue to say, “Come,” through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ’s ‘Come.’ That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus.” Oswald Chambers 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Revelation 22:17 

… for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29 

But maybe you are wondering, as I did, if God is a consuming fire, why wasn’t the bush consumed, why wasn’t it burned up? Why aren’t we burned up on the altar? I think it is because God is life and light and love, and what He burns up is sin and darkness and anything that is harmful and keeps us from Him. Only the ropes that bound Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were burned in the fire, but they walked with Jesus in the fire unharmed (Daniel 3:22-25). 

If we cling to the things that God’s holiness consumes and refuse to yield, we will get burned – and consumed with them in the end. Or, at the least, we will be left with nothing as the “wood, hay, and stubble” are burned up (1 Cor. 3:12-15).  

But if we put ourselves on the altar as a burnt offering and let His fire fall on us, we are cleansed and purified and set free. We are called to be burning bushes, to be burnt offerings on the consuming fire of His altar, a witness to His transforming power, His glorious majesty, and His unfailing love. And the more we let him burn away the darkness, the purer the flame, the brighter the light. And the needy, hurting, imprisoned people of the world are drawn to the light of the fire and we are able to call out to them from our burning bushes, “Come!” 

… his word is in my heart like a fire … Jeremiah 20:9 

The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Leviticus 6:12 

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit … Acts 2:2-4 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Revelation 22:17 

¹  https://seedbed.com/the-only-problem-with-the-bible/ 

² Berean Study Bible 

Photo, Flame by Annie Roi https://flic.kr/p/9VB6y7  

Gaping Holes

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3 

Recently, a visiting pastor, Craig Darling, spoke about the above verse. One thing he said really stuck with me. He said, “There are gaping holes in the garments of our sanctification.” I thought, yes indeed. If you look at what Paul is urging of us you can see where those holes might be. He is asking for, not just some humility and gentleness, but complete humility and gentleness! All the time humble and gentle? Patience, putting up with people, love, unity. Those are all the hard ones. Those are the ones you want to read quickly and go on, the ones you want to make excuses for. 

Yet we are supposed to wear these things like a garment: 

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14 

Why a garment? So that when people look at us, they see Jesus.  

Sanctification and justification are two different things. Justification takes a moment; the moment we receive, believe that Jesus took our sins when he died on the cross and gave us in return His righteousness before God. Sanctification, however, takes a long time it seems, as the Spirit puts his finger on sin, and we yield to Him, things like self-righteousness, self-justification, self-pity, fearfulness and doubt, unforgiveness, uncontrolled anger and tongue – and an entitled attitude to hang on to all those things. Some of it needs deep heart-healing, even becoming aware that we need healing. Some of it needs death to self and pride. A lot of it needs letting go of the hurt, the expectations and demands, the desire to control, to inflict vengeance and our own brand of justice. It takes committing it all to God. 

“So my decision to receive Him, although made only once, I must affirm in thousands of ways, through thousands of choices, for the rest of my life–my will or His, my life (the old one) or His (the new one). It is no to myself and yes to Him.” — Elisabeth Elliot, A Path Through Suffering

And right there, that is the key. Our garments have holes in them because they are our own old garments, not the ones God wants to clothe us with. The garment God wants to clothe us with is woven by the Spirit of God. It cannot come from us; it is the fruit of the Spirit.  

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22 

A recent excellent blog by Beholding Him Ministries confirmed what the Lord was saying to me.  

“… sometimes when we are discussing the fruit of the Spirit, it comes more about if we can list all nine from memory rather than “am I allowing God to have His way in my life?” Sometimes we spend all our attention on the first couple: love, joy, peace, patience and none on “kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Perhaps that is needed by the body of Christ, for our “kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” will prove out our love, joy, peace and patience.” — One Who is Faithful (emphasis mine) https://beholdinghimministries.org/2022/06/24/text-51/ 

Lord, I want the world to see You. Take off my holey garment and replace it with your holy garment. Only you can make me complete or completely anything – especially completely humble and gentle.  

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. 2 Timothy 1:9 

Still wrestling …

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Holiness – Purity

Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:3  

According to James V. Brownson there are three aspects to holiness:  

• Differentiation, or being set apart from the world 
• Openness to God, an availability to God’s presence, or being set apart to God 
• Purity  

We looked at the first two aspects in Holiness – Set Apart. Being separated out, or chosen, and setting our hearts and minds on obeying God leads to a passion for purity. Holiness, in the purity sense it seems to me, is becoming “like Jesus,” conformed to his image. It is “the restoration of the image of God,” as Wilberforce described it. Brownson defined purity as finding our true identity in Christ: 

“In the broadest sense, purity consists in actions that are in accordance with our God-given identity. The life of faith is the life that lives out our identity given to us Christ. ‘Seek first God’s kingdom,’ says Jesus, ‘And everything else will be yours as well.’ Or as Kierkegaardⁱ paraphrases the same notion, purity of heart is to will one thing, to consistently set one’s will toward being the child of God that God has called you to be … To allude to the words of Jesus: the soul preoccupied with many things can miss the one thing that is necessary. To live by the one thing that is necessary is what purity is all about.”ⁱⁱ 

The purity of holiness means to be “set apart” to God. It means God is our focus, our pursuit, our “one thing.” And it is not primarily for ourselves, but for others. It is not so we can pat ourselves on the back, but because when Jesus is lifted up, all men are drawn to him. When we are truly like him, people see what God is really like; they know his love for them; they experience all that God yearns for them: the healing and restoration and being set free, loosing of bonds, breaking of chains. Jesus wants to become “the firstborn of many brothers.” Holiness is submitting ourselves to that passion, dying to ourselves to help make that happen. 

“As reflected in the life of Jesus, spiritual formation, or sanctification, is the growth we are to experience as people who believe in Jesus—growth that moves us toward the image of God.” — J.D. Walt ⁱⁱⁱ 

Holiness means obedience to the will of God which is all about love; it’s about doing the good works that we were created to do, which are all about helping to bring his lost children home. 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8 

Jesus’ command was not you will witness – not you will knock on doors, or hand out tracts, or however people witness in our day – or not even that you will write blogs. But that you will be witnesses. That word translated “be” – eimi – means to be, to exist. In other words, you will exist as a witness to God’s glory, it will have become part of your being. When people look at you, they will see Jesus in you. 

“It is through Christian people that the Lord Jesus is glorified; that is why he is concerned about these people. Let us remember that the world knows nothing about him apart from us; it gets to know him through us, and judges him by what it sees in us. Indeed, he put it still more specifically by saying that even as God had sent him into the world to manifest the glory of God, now he sends his people into the world in exactly the same way, so that he may thus be magnified and glorified through them.” — Martyn Lloyd-Jones ^iv  

But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you– from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. 1 Peter 2:9-10 (Message)  

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:29 (ESV) 

So, there are two reasons to pursue holiness which correspond to the two consuming passions of God. First, that we might see and know and love him as our Father, and second, to love our fellow humans with God’s love so that they might be brought into his family too. 

Holiness as purity is not so we can be “holier than thou.” It means to be holier and holier toward God, holier and holier because of God’s work in us, holier and holier for others, holier and holier for love – to be a conduit of God’s love.  

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength … Love your neighbor as yourself. Mark 12:30-31 

 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (ESV)  

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. John 12:32 (ESV) 

ⁱ Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing. Sören Kierkegaard. 1938.  https://www.religion-online.org/book/purity-of-heart-is-to-will-one-thing/  

ⁱⁱ Holiness and Hermeneutics. James V. Brownson. Western Theological Seminary. 1999. 

ⁱⁱⁱ The Image of God and the Quest for Holiness. J.D. Walt.  https://www.seedbed.com/the-image-of-god-and-the-quest-for-holiness/  

^iv Sanctified Through the Truth. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Crossway Books, 1989. 

Image from FreeBibleimages.org

Holiness – Set Apart

Be holy, because I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16 

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:5 

What exactly does it mean to be holy? According to James V. Brownsonⁱ there are three aspects to holiness:  

• Differentiation, or being set apart from the world 
• Openness to God, an availability to God’s presence, or being set apart to God 
• Purity  

Being Set Apart from the World 

Brownson writes that “[i]t is important to note that this setting apart is never a withdrawal from the world, but rather a differentiation for a particular kind of service to the world.” Being set apart from the world, or chosen, is mentioned a lot in the Bible. 

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 
1 Peter 2:9  

The Greek word translated “chosen” in the above verse is eklegomai, which means to be chosen and set apart from the rest of the world. It comes from two words that literally mean to call out. To speak, to call by name, to name out of, away from. You are chosen, set apart, called by name out of, away from, the world and into God’s glorious Kingdom. God called my name fifty years ago (He Knows My Name).  

The Greek word translated “called” in 1 Peter 2:9 is kaleo. It also means to invite, as in “Go therefore to the main roads and invite (kaleo) to the wedding feast as many as you find (Matthew 22:9),” and to name, as in “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call (kaleo) his name Jesus (Luke 1:31).” 

So, the first part of holiness is answering God’s call to “come out” of the world. We are called by name. We are invited to the eternal banquet. This is the first step to holiness. 

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3 

He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love. Song of Songs 2:4 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Psalm 23:5 

Set Apart to God 

If the first part is turning from the world, the second part of holiness is turning toward and focusing on God, knowing him more and more deeply. As Brownson writes, “We are not only set apart from the world; we are set apart to God. There is an openness to God, an availability to God’s presence, which is also central to holiness.” Brother Lawrence called this The Practice of the Presence of God. Being in his presence makes possible the “unrelenting, uncompromising obedience to God” that Pastor Troy spoke of (see the first blog in this series, Holiness). 

“His [God’s] greater purpose in bringing them [Israel] out of Egypt was to take them into Canaan, his land of fullness. In short, he brought them out of slavery in order to bring them into his heart and into his love. He wanted a people who were totally dependent on his mercy, grace and love. The same is still true for his people today.” — David Wilkerson  

A.W. Tozer wrote that “we are saved [or brought out] to know God, to enter His wonder-filled Presence through the new and living way [Jesus] and remain in that Presence forever.” So, to me, this is the first reason to pursue holiness, to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Holiness is required to see God and He desires passionately to be seen and known, to be with us. The second reason for pursuing holiness has to do with becoming like him. 

William Wilberforce wrote that “the nature of the holiness, to which the desires of the true Christian are directed, is no other than the restoration of the image of God.”ⁱⁱ 

I love that – “the restoration of the image of God.” This happens as we behold him, as he is our focus, our one thing, as we begin to dwell in the Presence. 

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) 

And this leads us into Brownson’s third part of holiness – purity – which we will look at in the next blog. 

J.D. Walt has a wonderful series called The Second Half of the Gospel which I highly recommend. You can read it here: https://www.seedbed.com/?s=second+half+of+the+gospel  

Until next time, let us not stop at being separated from the world, at “being saved,” but “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD!” (Hosea 6:3a) 

“The truest way of delighting in the Lord is to obey him in our coming and going, at home and on the road, in our lying down and rising up, by impressing it on our hearts and heads and hands and expressing it through every word and deed. The only way to love the Lord our God is with our whole hearts, minds, and strength. Holiness is full surrender to the unrivaled reign of Jesus over every part of who we are. It is all of you delighting in all of him.” — Matt LeRoy (The Only Way to Love)

ⁱ Holiness and Hermeneutics. James V. Brownson. Western Theological Seminary. 1999. 

^{ii A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System. William Wilberforce. 1820.} 

Image of sheep in pasture by Sheila Bair

Holiness

“The pursuit of holiness is an unrelenting, uncompromising obedience to God.” — Troy Gentz 

The above quote from our pastor really got me thinking about holiness. “… unrelenting, uncompromising, obedience.” Wow, in this day of deciding everything about ourselves for ourselves, does anyone do this anymore? Does anyone even think of obedience? Isn’t that an archaic word? An oppressive concept? Does anyone pursue holiness? Yet, God commands and, I believe, yearns for us to be holy.  

But just as he who called you is holy, so be (ginomai) holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am (eimi) holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16 

This above verse emphasizes how, for us, holiness is a pursuit or goal, the moving toward, the ongoing conforming and allowing ourselves to be transformed. There are two different verbs translated “be” and “am” in this verse. One is more like “to become” and the other one is “to exist.” We are called to become – ginomai – holy; but God is – eimi – holy. The Greek word ginomai means to become, to come into existence, begin to be, receive being. It points to our journey toward holiness, our willingness to receive a new being, become a new creature.

In contrast, the Greek word eimi means simply to be, to exist, to happen, to be present. According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the word is in the first person singular present indicative and expresses, “I exist” or “I AM.” God always has and always will exist as Holy – unchanging, unfailing – the One we can fix our eyes and our hearts on, the objective, the goal, the ultimate destination of our pilgrimage here on earth. 

But why does God yearn for us to become holy? I believe at least part of the answer is in this verse: 

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 

The Greek word translated “see” above is optanomai. It means “to look at, behold, to gaze (i.e., with wide-open eyes, as at something remarkable).” It does not denote “simply voluntary observation,” or “merely mechanical, passive or casual vision.” It is emphatic and intensive, signifying “an earnest but more continued inspection.”ⁱ That is our part – to gaze at our remarkable God with wide-open eyes. Or, as A.W. Tozer put it, “We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.”ⁱⁱ 

But the word also means to allow one’s self to be seen, to appear, and that is God’s part. God wants to be seen. God wants to be known. God invites an intense, earnest, and continued inspection of Himself. Doesn’t that sound like a best friend? Like a lover?  

You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Colossians 1:21-22 

And there resides, in that verse, another fundamental truth about holiness – that we can’t do it ourselves. It is because of what Jesus did on the cross that we can pursue, or even think about pursuing, holiness. It is only because of Jesus’ death on the cross that we can come into His Presence and gaze in wide-eyed worship at the lover of our souls.  

“Here is the truth, plain and simple. Without the holiness that’s imparted by Christ alone—a precious gift we honor by leading a life devoted to obeying his every word—none of us will see the Lord. This refers not just to heaven but to our present life as well. Without holiness, we won’t see God’s presence in our daily walk, our family, our relationships, our witness or our ministry.” — David Wilkersonⁱⁱⁱ  

So, there seems to be this tension between receiving holiness as a gift that has already happened – “I have been crucified with Christ” – and something I must also pursue.  GotQuestions explains it this way: 

“Like righteousness, holiness is a gift from God. The process of becoming holy is called sanctification, and God promises to complete His sanctification in us because of Christ’s work on the cross. The writer of Hebrews explains positional sanctification: “By [God’s] will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” and also alludes to progressive sanctification, speaking of “those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:10, 14). We are perfected and sanctified by one event: Christ’s substitutionary atonement on the cross for our sin. As we live our lives in Christ, our holiness increases as we yield to the work of the Holy Spirit within us and follow this command: “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12–13; see also Romans 12:1–2; Hebrews 12:1–2).”^iv 

Let us, then, receive the amazing gift that Jesus gave us on the cross, but let’s also pursue holiness as an unrelenting, uncompromising obedience to God as he reveals his will to us. Let us run swiftly to catch, press on, press forward, seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavor to acquire holiness that we might behold Him, that we might know Him. This is the first reason to pursue holiness. I would like to explore more about holiness, including the second precious reason for pursuing it, in following blogs. 

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8

ⁱ Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries 

ⁱⁱ A.W. Tozer. That Incredible Christian. “We are Saved To as Well as From.” Compiled by Anita M. Bailey. 1964.

ⁱⁱⁱ David Wilkerson, Our God-given Escape Plan https://worldchallenge.org/devotion/our-god-given-escape-plan?ref=devos 

Image in the Public Domain

Going Forward

But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. Jeremiah 7:24 (ESV) 

Recently I read this verse and the idea of going forward struck me. What does that exactly mean, going forward and not backward? So, I looked up the Hebrew word translated “forward.” I love it when I find hidden treasure! 

The word translated forward here in Jeremiah is paniym, and its primary meaning is “face.” Paniym means face, presence, person, toward, forward, before, in the presence, in the face of, in front of. It is used for the face of God. The Presence. 

The LORD replied [to Moses], “My Presence (paniym) will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14 

Paniym comes from the root verb “to turn,” as in turning the face. As in not going backward anymore, but turning around and going forward. For when you are going backward you have turned your face from God. Turning around, turning your face to the light of his face – which is what repentance is all about – is going forward. Face to face with God. His heart for us. 

I have been pondering holiness a lot lately. Could this be what holiness is all about? Going forward not backward? Turning toward God? Dwelling before the face of God, in His Presence? When our backs are turned away from God we travel deeper into self and all the self-stuff: pride, greed, self-love, self-preservation, self-aggrandizement, “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy” (Galatians 5:20). But when we are going forward, no matter what, into the refining light and fire of his Presence, dying to self, letting him burn away the dross, we abide more and more in him, becoming more and more like him: his humility, obedience, self-sacrifice, and love.  

In the midst of the chaos and terror and fear of almost certain death for Christians in Afghanistan, I read of one man going directly to the Taliban to share the gospel. The report did not say what happened to him. But it made me think. I don’t know if I could do that, but surely, this is true “going forward.”  

Faith may falter; hope may sink. But love keeps going forward. Toward the face of God, into the Presence, deeper into love. 

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” John 18:4 (NKJV) 

Image, copyright 2018 Derek Bair