Holy Yet Becoming Holy

"The worst thing that could happen to you is for you never to reach the potential God has for you." - Louie Giglio

So you're finally at a point where you think you've got life figured out. You realize that change is going to come and you may not be completely ready for it, but you've pretty much figured out how your life works. Even if you don't know what direction you're heading, you've learned to go through the routine of each day and settle into whatever you can get and and be as content as possible. Being materially content is an important thing to learn how to do, but what you must beware of is becoming spiritually content. Let me just say it now: you will not, in this life on earth, reach a point where you should be spiritually content with yourself. To reach such a point you would have to be without sin, and good luck to you with that one. Don't mistake me; if you are a believer, you are seen as righteous and holy by God and we are to be completely and totally satisfied in Him and His salvation; but as long as our souls are inside these sinful bodies, they feel the taint and the temptation of sin. So you may think you're doing pretty well, and in some cases, this may even be true, but there are still things that you are holding onto. There is sin in your life that you haven't yet sought to destroy. God promises that it is His desire to continue working in you until the day you join Him in heaven (see Philippians 1:6). Do not be satisfied with where you are now, because there is always another level to be reached, a fuller potential to be obtained. Do not fall into the worldly viewpoint of settling for mediocrity, because God has placed the highest call on you: to become like His Son, to be conformed into His image, and with that call He has given you the ability to reach that potential. The person you are becoming during this short life on earth is the same person that is going to be in heaven for all eternity. Embrace your potential. Take the first step, and God will be right there in you, around you, working through you, giving you the strength to take the next step.

Out of Millions Lost

Once upon a time, sometime before "In the beginning," God came to a brilliant conclusion. He decided that after He made the world, and displayed His glory throughout the history of this world and through the sacrificial death of His Son, He was going to save you. Before He made anything, He chose to call you, personally, to Himself.

Pause. *Insert hostile comments from Arminian audience.* Yes, I did, in fact, imply Calvinism as truth. Except I like to call it Biblical, rather than Calvinist.

I really don't understand why Calvinism vs. Arminianism is a debate among any Bible-believing Christians. My first and only question to any Arminian is: "Have you ever read Ephesians 1?"

Check this out, starting in verse 3 --

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Okay, so we're all on the same page now? Great. Let's move on.

So there's perfect, holy, God strutting around the vast expanse of existence. And He decides that after He creates humankind, and after they sin and defile His name and turn from Him in every way possible, and AFTER He redeems them (while they were yet sinners) by paying the price of the perfect sacrifice to atone for all sins, past, present, and future, He comes up with... you. He made the unbelievable decision to choose you, out of millions lost who have not yet even entered existence. He knew all the sin that would consume your life. He knew of every time you would ever despise His name. He knew every time you would forsake Him for the pleasures of the world. But He chose you anyway.

Why? Because of this one very simple truth: God did not choose you because of who you are, but because of who He is going to make you. When God chose you, He had more than just your conversion in mind. He formulated a plan for your entire life. He envisioned an incredible human being who would be a wholehearted follower of Himself. There was nothing in you that would make God look upon you with favor. It is unfathomable to think that God, in His endless mercy, chose you and me who actively and passionately hated Him. But He knew that His grace has no bounds, and He wants to reveal that to us. He wants to show how He can pick up the worst of sinners and turn them into godly people who live for Him every day. Knowing this, are you actively becoming the person God intends for you to be?

So You Think You Love Him?

Your obedience to God's commands is the most accurate reflection of the measure of your love for God. It's easy to love God when you're passionate about what God is doing through you. It is sometimes even easy to love God the midst of trials, if you are firmly grounded in the knowledge that He is your support, and the One who will bring you through the suffering. It becomes very difficult, however, to love God when He brings correction, or when He directs your life in the opposite direction of your will for your life.

If there is an area of your life where you are not honoring God, He will be faithful to point it out. It may be through His Word, or through prayer, or even through the word of someone close to you. But He will bring it to your attention, and the most important part about it is not how He makes it known, or even what He reveals to you, but how you respond to His commands.

When God reveals a sin issue in your life, the only appropriate response is immediate and reckless obedience to His will. But you must also love God's correction. Simply obeying the Word of God is only half of loving Him. The other half is being filled with gratefulness and worship because God has such an amazing plan for you that He meets with you personally and intimately to make sure that you're ready. 1 John 5:3 says: "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."

Do not let the will of God be a burden on your life. If you really want to love God with all your heart, then joyfully and thankfully apply His correction. Not to say this is any simple feat. It requires a severe death to yourself and your flesh, and it requires an unearthly amount of humility. No, really, it's unearthly; you can only get it from God. You will be tempted to ignore Him, and convince yourself that you aren't really doing anything wrong. But ask God to tear down the walls of your pride and He will be oh-so-faithful to do so. Do you love God? Start living like it.

Life at God's Level

What does God see when He looks at you? Obviously there are a lot of correct answers to this question and it varies from person to person. But if you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior then the overlying answer is of course that God sees you as holy and blameless. He may also see specific areas of your life that need work, and He will patiently bring those to your attention, but I think the best way to describe what God sees when He looks at you is a work in progress. Yes, salvation is instantaneous and everlasting, but the process of sanctification continues for as long as we are on this earth. The road to becoming more like Christ does not end until we stop sinning.

Philippians 1:6 tells us that “… He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” There are going to be times when you think your sin has taken over you completely, and you will despair of ever returning to the One who calls for you and waits for you, but He’s always there. Even in the moments that it feels like you will never succeed, that you will never reach a deeper intimacy with God because of the barrier you have created, He’s there, freely offering the promise of coming close to Him if you can humble yourself enough to follow Him wholly. He’s always there calling you back to the narrow path so that He can continue the work in you that He began before you even gave Him a second thought.

And while He is working presently and directly in your life, He is also preparing things for you that exceed your grandest dreams, both here on earth and in eternity to come. In Matthew 25:34 Jesus says, “Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” While God was planning out the unfolding of history, he carefully considered you and the role He would design specifically for you. That role is before you now; you can either reject it and attempt life without God, or you can embrace it wholeheartedly and enter the kingdom, the presence, the majesty, of God.

This inheritance begins the moment you accept it. There are rewards in heaven yet unknown, but the kingdom of God is here and now, and He will bless your life immensely if you follow Him. Take a step back and consider your life through God’s eyes. He sees something to complete in you, and He will lead you every step of the way. Try to fathom, if you can, what God could do in and through you if you surrender wholly to His will; what you dream up is just a small glimpse of what God can truly do. All it takes is obedience to His will, and a God-view of your own life. Start seeing what God sees when He looks at you, and start living a God-sized life.

Who's Your Nathan?

Okay, so most of you are familiar with the story of David and Bathsheba. For those who are not, a quick recap: David was walking on the roof of his palace one day (probably a bad idea in the first place... I'm sure he could have fallen...) and he happened to see through a window a woman bathing. Finding her quite beautiful, he found out that her name was Bathsheba, and she was married. But he sent for her to come and sleep with him. Soon after, David finds out that she has become pregnant. Wishing to hide his sin, David arranges for Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, to be placed on the front lines of a battle in which his death is imminent. And verily, as soon as Uriah dies, David takes Bathsheba to be his wife and their child is born.

In the very next chapter, Nathan comes on the scene. To understand the scope of this relationship, you must know that Nathan is the prophet of God in Jerusalem at this time. Throughout the book of 2 Samuel we see Nathan bringing the divine revelation of God to David. You can imagine that David, being a man after God's own heart, held Nathan in high regard. Certainly he took to heart anything Nathan said. So here we see Nathan starting out with a story, and I'm just gonna quote here:

"There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.
But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb
Which he bought and nourished;
And it grew up together with him and his children.
It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,
And was like a daughter to him.
Now a traveler came to the rich man,
And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd,
To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him;
Rather he took the poor man's ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

"Then David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion."

No sooner do these words come out of David's mouth than Nathan reveals to him that he is that man in the story. For the full response check out 2 Samuel 12:7-12, but basically from there Nathan delivers this speech, inspired by God, to rebuke David and pronounce his punishment.

If you've made it this far, please forgive me for the length of this post. This story is crucial to understanding my point though. Assuming that none of your friends are regularly receiving divine revelations from God about you, who's going to be your Nathan? Who is close enough to God and to you to be able to bring your sin issues to you, even when you try to cover them up or try to ignore them? Because there needs to be someone. God can provide conviction through the Holy Spirit, but he provides accountability through our closest friends.

If there is nobody, are you allowing people to get close to you? I don't mean in an emotional way, but in a very real and unmasking way. It needs to be somebody who experiences struggles different than yours. It feels better to commiserate with people who share in your battle, but it is infinitely more beneficial to receive help from someone who isn't in the same sinking boat. And if I may get bold here, I would say that in most cases, it needs to be someone of the same gender. Guys are going to better understand how to hold other guys accountable, and girls are going to understand girls. That's just how it works. Who's your Nathan? (Nathanette?)

Let somebody in. Let somebody close. It will take humility, but as soon as you do, you will find your battle with sin suddenly lightened. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says "And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart." You can't do it alone. You may succeed for awhile, but sin will never lessen its temptation, and without somebody to show you when you are walking off the path, and to guide you back, you will only fall in deeper and deeper. Find somebody. Open up to a friend. Stop being arrogant and believing that eventually you will beat sin on your own strength. You need help. Who's your Nathan?