Today's 'Verse of the Day' really got my brain whizzing today:
Leviticus 20:7-8
"So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the LORD your God. Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the LORD who makes you holy." NLT
"Set yourselves apart for a holy life. LIVE a holy life, because I am God, your God. Do what I tell you; LIVE the way I tell you. I am the God who makes you holy." MSG
"Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy." NIV
"Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I AM the Lord your God. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them; I AM the Lord who sanctifies you." NKJV
Holy: dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred: the Holy Bible | the holy month of Ramadan.• (of a person) devoted to the service of God: saints and holy men.
Here is where my heart is today: If our walk with Christ is a journey, if we begin at zero and 'arrive' at 100, say, what do we do with people who are still at levels 1-10? What do we, as a church, do with those who have just begun to be open to the Gospel, who have begun to let down their guard, who want to hear more, who have become Pursuers of God, but have not made that terrifying leap of faith?
Then, what do we do with those who have made that leap of faith, who are terrified beyond description about what they have just done, but at the same time so full of joy and peace that they cannot explain it, but are still learning what this new life is all about?
I grew up in the church. I know how it works. I know what is expected of me, what I need to hide from others to be accepted, and what I can share without fear of rejection.
But a person off the street, who could have any number of reasons for not believing, not knowing, or even actively working against the church does not have that experience. They only know what the world knows. They only know how the world works. They have not seen or experienced how differently the life of the church is and can be.
So what do we do with these people? They are crass. They dress provocatively (because that is what dressing up in the world looks like). They cuss. They drink alcohol. They smoke. They holler and scream at their kids. They spend weekends away with boyfriends and girlfriends and are not married. They are sinners.
Most of us who have grown past all of that, or who were raised not to go there in the first place and got to start our lives with Christ past that level, have worked past those outward, public, everyone can see them types of markers - the markers that keep us separated from the church populations.
Not that we have 'arrived' at some holy level of achievement. We all are still being molded and shaped like a lump of clay. God isn't done with you, yet. He will continue to point out to you things that you do that He is not pleased with.
John 16:12-15 says, "I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I've said, 'He takes from me and delivers to you.'"
That is the job of the Holy Spirit. He lets us hear from God at any time. He lets us know what step to take next, what to say to whom and when. He will speak through our voices and he will close our mouths. But we have to let Him. We have to learn to hear His voice, to test what we hear against known scripture and learn to weed out our own thought from among His whispers. We have to learn to step out upon those whispers in faith and ignore our brain that will try to be 'logical' and 'sensible' and will try to fight against what others might think. We have to acknowledge that salvation, baptism, sanctification, none of them - none of them zoom us from level 0-100. We all start on some level and we all walk and climb and crawl and claw our way toward 100, but we don't reach it - not until our life on earth ends and we arrive in heaven or Jesus comes again. Until then, there is always something that God wants us to learn and do in His name.
So once we remember that NONE of us have 'arrived' yet, we have to look around at all the others around us who are all over the place with 'levels' if you can grasp my concept there. You might think of them as levels of holiness - how much of our lives have we dedicated to service for God.
As a body of Christ, we often expect all of the people in our church to automatically be at a certain 'level' to feel comfortable associating with them. Let's call that level 25 just so we can all be on the same page. So we all are at LEAST on level 25. If we have gotten to 50, those are probably our leadership circle people. And some of those older people may have acquired 75 - man! THOSE are the SAINTS!
But we haven't dealt with the people who are below 25. Maybe they aren't even CLOSE. What do we do with them? If they are actually attending church, they are probably already at at least 15, or 10 if it is just occasionally. We can't have them teaching - that's not healthy or scriptural. There is a whole list of things we CAN'T let them do - but what CAN they do? What do we do with them?
Well, to be completely honest with ourselves, we don't let them do anything. We don't have them over to our homes because they might corrupt our children - or someone might think WE are doing something wrong while they are over. We don't invite them to Bible Study because our group is too far advanced. And truly, most of our Bible Studies ARE too advanced. We often have a 'new believers class' or a 'membership class' for a while, but until someone has grown to level 25 or near to it, we really don't want them around. They are too dirty with sin. God needs to clean them up more before we can be with them. We wouldn't want our holy clothes to be soiled by their unholy life.
That sounds awful, I know, but stop and really hear that. Think about it. It's true! I'm a part of it myself! I am a church leader and I have done my share to help cultivate this way of life! But God has been working on me..... and I'm changing....
My heart hurts and I tear up at these thoughts! I get angry at what the church looks like today! God handed me a picture about a week ago and I've been agonizing over it ever since - we have BECOME exactly what Jesus fought against! We ARE the Sanhedrin! We ARE the Sadducees and Pharisees of Jesus's day. We are the teachers of the law. We are the leaders in the church. AND WE ARE MISSING THE POINT!!! Jesus didn't die on the cross so that we could hide out in our church buildings and lock the door against the evil in the world - that's not what Holy is all about! He calls us to be Holy - to be different from the world, to live a life that shines so strongly with His love and His grace that people are drawn to us to learn how to shine also - He wants us out there, among the people He loves so deeply. He wants each of us to allow ourselves to become part of the lives of those around us who do NOT know Him so that we can walk with them as they grow from levels 0-25, then to release them to do the same thing in their circle of influence. Yes, we are to grow in His knowledge. Yes, we are to teach our children how to follow Him, but we are to do that AND be out and among the lost. How can the lost be found if nobody is looking for them?!?!
How many people are in your life who do NOT know the Lord?
If you have to think about that for very long, then I hope you have listened. Lost people should be in your life and in your prayers. It may only be one you are working with. It may be a family. It may be... well, it could be anything. God wants to use you where you are. He has placed you and built up people around you to reach. Please listen to what He wants you to do.
