Tag Archives: Holiness

Toward Release

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What does it look like when someone trusts Jesus?  What does it look like when they put all their confidence in the power of Christ to save?

Polycarp was burned at the stake.  But when he was encouraged to run and hide from his captors, instead he invited them to a dinner in his home.  Later he said, “80 and 6 years he has served me well why should I deny him now”.

Legend has it that Peter was crucified upside down, hardly feeling worthy to suffer as his master did.  But readily willing to suffer for the one he loved.

Apparently the Apostle John was boiled in oil before he was banished to the Isle of Patmos.  In that place he told us in writing about the beauty of the living God’s Holy Son.

There is a story of a mother and her two daughters who were captured by the Romans.  On the journey to Rome, understanding that they were beautiful women, the mother fained a desire to bathe before entrance to Rome.  A raging Creek was near, so the Romans let them go and bathe.  At the side of the torrent she grabbed her two daughters and through all of them into the raging river, choosing to drown rather than be molested by vulgar men (and this for the sake of purity in regard to the name of Jesus).

If I had time I could fill up far more than 100 thick volumes of testimonies.  Even today there are stories of people who are suffering brutally because they trust Jesus.  Beheadings, burnings, stabbings, and on and on.

I knew at least one faithful loving Christian, who up into his eighties, loved the Lord more than anything else in the world.  Even to his death bed he waved us away lest we interfere with his communion.

“If you love me you will obey my commands.” 

“Never will I leave you or forsake you.”

Such a short few years we are asked to trust him like this. 

Then FREEDOM!

Freedom Fighters?

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I see people fighting for freedom (so to speak).

So to speak of fighting; the fight Americans are putting up is more akin to complaining.

So to speak of freedom; the great majority of Americans have never lived under a totalitarian regime.  They have no idea what it’s like to live without freedom.  And they would be seriously hard pressed if you ask them to define what freedom is.

Passion is born of experience. 

The same is true with the Gospel of Christ.  Happy is the average person who calls himself a Christian:

.To go to Church (when he wants to)

.To be accepted in his social situation (as if saying you’re a Christian makes it so)

.To stay out of trouble and to stay out of jail

.To have some future unknown hope (leaving the entirety of heaven in the hands of those who are there; preferring ignorance over understanding)

And

.To live his life as he pleases “knowing” that the forgiveness of Christ will cover him in the end (such a man has absolutely no reason to fight for anything)

A man fights for what he knows.  The one who knows how precariously he stands as a free man, fights with all he has to keep his freedom.  The one who does not understand freedom, does not fight.  And such a man will not understand what I have just written.

The offer of Christ is free.  Accepting his offer will cost you everything you have.

When the Sun Rises

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Many who think themselves to be firm Christians are compromised.  This is not suspicion or an attempt at slander, this is the way it is.  While they embrace many things of Christ they also embrace many things of the world.  We are told that such lives will suffer loss.

On the day when Christ rises to judge his people, many will realize for the first time that they had compromised their lives.  Sucked into the lure of unholy depravity, many perceive the things of this world to be beautiful.  Will that perception remain when the loss they are to suffer is presented to them personally?

As we keep our mind focused on eternity, that is being in the presence of the Most High God’s Holy Son, the glitz of this world tends to lose its pull.  Isn’t it written that we should not be deceived, but that a man will reap what he sows?

Is the Sun a Ball of Fire?

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From eternity to eternity, Christ Jesus acts on his Holy Father’s Word with absolute obedience and immediacy. 

Jesus, The Christ, is the same yesterday today and forever.

What man can count any of those things among his belongings?

Do we need Jesus’ strength?   Is the Sun a ball of fire?

“Ok”

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When God says, “Do this”, we say, “OK”.

God considers His command to be eternal and binding.  Our “ok” means, “We will think about it”.

Notice any problems here?

“Well, He Did it!”

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We live in a world of compromise.  Is that how God’s people should live?

Go ask Ananias and Sapphira.  If you don’t know who these two are, go look it up.

Go ask Achan son of Karmi.
Go ask Cain.
Go ask the Apostle Peter, as he separated himself from the Gentiles.
Go ask Demas.
Ask Jim Bakker.
Ask Jimmy Swaggart.

Billions of people live the life of compromise, and they pay an enormous price.  Billions more have led an equally compromised life, but they were never caught; they lived just inside the rules of social legitimacy.  But even while they have lived, their reward waits for them.

I can force no one to live a pure life in Christ.  But I can certainly warn about the cost of compromise.