Happily Holy

The past month or so I seem to have been going through a dry spell. Which, to me, inevitably means that I am in sin. I can see the down spiraling of my actions and decisions from decent to bad to worse. As I actively choose sin over the love of Christ I, like everyone else who trust/loves/follows Christ end up far away from Him.

It has taken much for God to pull me back to Him and sadly enough, I am still nowhere near where I was or where I wish I was in my relationship with Him. Through recent events with a few of my friends who have also been going through dry spells, who have also seen the results of sin in their lives, Christ has shown me my own sin against Him and against others. Each one of us, in our own way, have actively chosen to pull away from our first Love. We have chosen to stray off that narrow way and try to hop the fence to get on the wide path that looks so appealing to us. Yet, God stops us and reminds each of us that we are His. He reminds us of the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7). When we, as the sheep did, stray from Him He will come find us and rejoice over us. He does not need us. He wants us. He chooses us for no other reason than to bring Himself glory. Yes, you … He chooses you to bring Him glory. The word chooses is not a typo, He actively chooses us everyday. He wants to make you righteous and holy and wants to remind you that you are loved and cared for by Him. This is not just a feel good message like the “Uncle Sam Wants You” campaign; no this is the God of the universe who wants to use you for His glory. But He declares us righteous when we are identified with Him.

Reading through Exodus proves to be difficult once I start trekking through the end of the book. All the information about how the temple was to be built and what was to be plated in gold. All the different tools and metals used and all of the measurements, OH the measurements!! But then I came upon chapter 29. Not necessarily very exciting to me, at least not until I came to verse 34 and 37. What do those two verses say, you may be asking yourself. Well I will tell you!

“It shall not be eaten, because it is holy” ~verse 34 c

“Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” ~ verse 37

These verses are obviously referring to the rules about sacrifices. This particular way of preparing a sacrifice was only good enough for Christ. This sacrifice could be consumed on the day it was made set upon the altar but if there was any left over it was not to be eaten because it was holy. They could not eat it because it was holy. Holy means it was set apart, different, godly, pure quality. Holy has a whole slew of meanings and this is scratching the mere surface of the depth of the meaning. For now, we will leave it at “set apart” and “different.” This sacrifice was completely set apart. It was only for Christ, it was good enough for only Him. No one below the level of pure godliness could consume this. It was by far different than all the other sacrifices in the way it was prepared and what was to be with it at the end of the day.

We get down to verse 37 and see that the altar was to be consecrated and atonement was to be made for seven days. At this point the altar was considered “most holy” and “whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” After it had been declared holy, anything that touched it became holy as well. When we come to the Lord we are declared righteous and holy. He wants us to be holy as He is holy (Lev. 11:44 and I Peter 1:16). Whatever touched the altar that had been declared holy then became holy. Oooooo how I want this to be reflected in my life! If I am like Christ, who is holy, I should give off holiness. Those around me should be pushed to holiness and become more holy. All because Christ is holy! People rub off on me very easy. I pick up on mannerisms and quirky traits and even patterns of speech. When I think about rubbing off on others, this is what I want others to be getting. I want to love God so much that I would do anything to be holy as He is holy. Those that are around me (or as our pastor would say, in my sphere of influence) should be picking up on holiness more than anything.

Christ has called those who follow Him to a higher standard. We are to be holy as He is holy. Heck we should desire to be holy! Many times I catch myself wanting to be awesome as the world calls awesome rather than seeking Christ-like characteristics. Four and a half years ago I officially began my journey with Christ, well that is when I willingly began to journey with Him for He had already begun working in my heart long before then. My life is completely different from what it was 5 years ago. It is completely different than it was one year ago. Every year, month, and day I should be growing closer to Christ and being conformed to His image. This has not been an easy journey, then again nothing worth it ever is (still planning on writing a separate post about this quote).  We will never reach perfection and yet He still wants us to try. The closer we get to Him the more we should desire this. My appetite for holiness is far different than it was a few years ago as is my appetite for certain foods (ask my friends, I now eat egg rolls… crazy I know!). Just as we crave particular foods we also should crave the things of God in our love for Him.

Coming out of this particular dry season, God has taught me what it means to crave holiness and to crave Christ-likeness. Through a verse near the end of Exodus 29, He reminded me that I am to be holy as He is holy. God’s greatest concern for us is not that we are happy; it is that we are holy. People seem to interchange those two short words when they indeed should not be used interchangeably. The two are completely different. John Piper was quoted, recently, saying, “If God’s love for his children is to be measured by our health, wealth, and comfort in this life, God hated the apostle Paul.” Do you realize it pleased God to crush His own Son? God is not worried about how happy we may be while on this little journey here on earth. He wants us to be made like Him. Being made like Him does not necessarily include being sad, lonely, and depressed. I have known many who love God and have not met the adversity that Paul or Peter or many others have faced. On the other hand, I have known just as many who have experienced the tough trials and sufferings. God has a plan for each one of us and His plans for each person differ. Paul seemed loved God and was thankful to be found righteous in His eyes. I would even say he was happily holy. This too I desire to be.

Setting Us Free

Here recently I have begun going through the entire Bible again. In spending time alone with God I want to know more of His character and know who He is. Just like getting to know a friend there are questions I have that can be and have been answered through prayer and reading through scripture. This morning (and by morning I do mean noon) I was going through Exodus 3-4. I didn't realize how applicable these two chapters were today until I read them again today.

Chapter 3 begins with Moses approaching the historical burning bush. As I read this I realized how hard it was for me to shake the movie Prince of Egypt out of my mind. Reading through this before I knew the movie was not quite accurate but then reading it again made me realize how inaccurate it really is. Not that I am knocking the movie, I like it and it is a good one to watch. Anyway, back on topic. Going through chapter three it is neat to see that God tells Moses Pharaoh's heart will be hardened. He tells him it will take time for the Israelites to be set free. Not just that but He reveals to Moses some of what he will be required to do.

God knew Pharaoh would order all baby boys to be put to death. He knew that Moses' mother would attempt to save him. He also knew that Pharaoh's daughter would find Moses. God had a reason for Moses growing up in Pharaoh's house, among the Egyptian people. He knew what was going to happen when Moses went to speak with Pharaoh to set the Israelites free. God was not surprised that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, God was the one who hardened his heart. He knows all things and sees all things. God is outside of time, He is the creator of time. He sees the end of time just as clearly as He sees today and the beginning of time. He knows all, sees all, and has created all. Nothing surprises God.

Just like God had a plan for Moses, He has a plan for you and me and everyone else. He had Moses grow up among the Egyptians because it allowed Moses to have a connection with the royal family. He automatically had an "in" so to speak. Pharaoh knew him, he was raised in Pharaoh's house. This had to be a humbling situation for Moses, going into a place where no one believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was the family that he knew. He chose to leave the and be with the Israelites, the Hebrew's - his people. God has a plan for each of us. He has given us all the same purpose to know Him and make Him known. Moses was 80 when he and Aaron went to Pharaoh. He had been in the desert for 40 years, which means that Moses was raised in Pharaoh's house for 40 years. Do you get that? He was a grown man! He only knew what it meant to be a child in the palace. He was not raised as an Israelite at all. -Now do you see my problem with the Prince of Egypt? Haha, just kidding! - God has a reason for you to have been born in the family you are apart of, it was not an accident. It was ordained by God for you to have the parents you have, to have the brothers/sisters you have. God has had all things happen for a reason.

Look around and ask God why. Ask Him why you are in your family. Try to see what God's purpose is for you there. If you are a believer but your family is not God has had you come to Christ among a group of non-believers. You are on your own little island, your own mission field. You have a sweet opportunity to ask God to deliver your family from hell. Maybe you are a college student and live on campus or in your sorority/fraternity house and are surrounded by lost people. Whatever or wherever you are God has you in your own little mission field. We have been deceived to think that the only mission fields are a bazillion miles away. My heart is to see international students and people from other countries come to know Christ. But I also recognize it is not practical for every true believer to get up and leave the U.S. to go overseas to share the gospel. Who would evangelize the U.S.? Like I said before, God has you where you are for a reason.

"Then Moses said to the LORD, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.' The LORD said to him, 'Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.'"
                                               ~Exodus 4:10-12

Chapter 4 we see Moses telling God how inadequate he feels. But God tells him He has made all and He can be trusted. Going back for a minute, God had Moses grow up in Pharaoh's house. God choose Moses to speak to Pharaoh and set the Israelites free. He hardened Pharaoh's heart. God was not blind to the situation. He was choosing to make the people see His power and His faithfulness. The Israelites were treated worse when Moses and Aaron went to set them free. The mental image in my head is the Israelites hearing about Moses and Aaron wanting to set them free. They all rejoice. Then Moses and Aaron speak with Pharaoh, Pharaoh makes the life of the Israelites worse. The Israelites are mad at Moses and Aaron for making things worse. Talk about fickle! Then again that is the image I have in my head. The Israelites were very upset that they were caused more pain but as far as the other stuff ... that is how I imagine it going down. God is showing His people He can be trusted. He uses a number of miracles to display His power: Moses and Aaron's staffs turning into snakes and swallowing the magicians snakes, all the water turned to blood, frogs all through out the land, insects and gnats everywhere, all the Egyptians cattle died, boils and sores on all the Egyptians and livestock, hail, locusts, darkness in all the land, and the deaths of all the first born among the Egyptians. God chose to display His power. He wanted His people to trust Him. He showed the Egyptians and the Egyptian magicians that He has power over all things.

God has power over all things. He has control over all the money in the world, all agriculture, all weather, all things! God is in control. Yet, here I am little ole me wanting to be in control of things in my life and thinking I have somehow earned the right to have that control. I cannot change people. I cannot change the weather. I cannot change myself. I have no control. Now if that does not leave you feeling helpless, I do not know what will. But because God is in control and God is the creator of all things (including you and me) He has designed a plan for us. He wants to reveal Himself to us and He wants to show us His faithfulness. He is our Father. We are a fickle people just like the Israelites were fickle. They were happy when things were good and they were angry when things were bad. We jump from thing to thing to find what we think is best for ourselves. Yet, we do not seek God to see what He considers best for us. We think bigger electronics, more stuff, and nicer clothes is what is best for us. We are sadly deceived. God's best for us does not involve wealth and prosperity (of an earthly standard that is). God does not intend for us to be in perfect health all the time. We are people, our bodies are imperfect, we are going to get sick. Health, wealth, and prosperity just doesn't seem to fit into the gospel. God has a plan for you and for me, but no where in scripture does it say we get a whole bunch of earthly stuff. God has you right where you are for a reason. So seeking out bigger and better is probably not going to be in that. It is a harsh truth but one thing we have to realize is the gospel is not about ourselves. The gospel does not revolve around me, or you, or your favorite pair of shoes. The gospel is all about Christ. It is all about God's love and mercy and grace. God sent Moses to set His people free just like God sent His only Son to give us an option to be free from the bondage of sin.

~*~ Challenging Questions ~*~
  - Where does God have you right now? Can you see why He has you there?
  - Are you trying to be in control of your own life? How can you turn this over to God and allow Him to regain control of your life (or begin to take hold of your life)?
  - Are you allowing God to set you free from sin in your life?