Christian Holiness Journal | Page 23 | a record of struggle and victory to know the mind of Christ

Best of Christian Holiness Daily: Change of Plans

August 11, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

Bad enough that he was a Samaritan, an outsider, shunned, looked down upon, the dregs of society, lowest of the low. More than that, he was a leper.

Levitical law separated the leper from the rest of society; lepers lived at a distance, never again to touch their loved ones, or to speak with them intimately. Never again could they hug their children or kiss their spouse.

Leprosy is highly contagious, and is spread by skin contact and through water droplets, like a cough or sneeze or a runny nose. Leprosy attacks the central nervous system, but its symptoms appear as tumors and disfigurement of the flesh and bone. Fingers twist in unnatural ways; hands become claws, and arms and legs become useless over time. The life of a leper is a painful and sad.

Lepers suffered so greatly that people in the time of Jesus naturally assumed that the afflicted must be paying for some terrible sin. And, why wouldn’t they think that? Two thousand years later, many of us still believe that way, to some extent.

It was near the end of His ministry when Jesus, passing through an unnamed village between Samaria and Jerusalem, was called on by ten such lepers. In keeping with the Law, they called from a distance. “Master, have mercy on us!”

His answer may seem strange to us, but that is only because we don’t live under the Law. “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” Before a leper could rejoin society, he or she must have been certified to be free of the disease by a priest.

The Bible doesn’t say for sure, but I imagine an expression or two of doubt on the faces of the lepers, and perhaps a few questions among them. Still, they obeyed Him.

And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

– Luke 17:19

The healing must have been slow and progressive, rather than instantaneous. Before the lepers arrived at the Temple or synagogue, they found themselves healed. One of them – just one – was so grateful that he turned back to thank Jesus before he had made it to see the priest.

So grateful was he that he fell at the Master’s feet and worshiped Him.

“Didn’t I heal 10 people?” said Jesus. Of course, He knew the answer. “Where are the other 9? Only one has found it in his heart to return and praise God, and He is a Samaritan.” Christ once again reminded His followers that their prejudice against their neighbors is simply wrong.

“Get up, He tells the Samaritan. “Arise and go your way. Your faith has made you whole.”

The leper’s mission had changed. Before turning around to express his gratitude to Jesus, his mission had been to go see the priests. Now, healed and made whole, he received new inductions from Christ… to go his own way.

“You are made whole.”

And, here’s my point. Those who experience a real encounter with Christ are made whole, spiritually whole; theirs lives are renewed and made complete and they simply cannot continue to go on living like they once had. They are compelled to follow Jesus. Their missions change. Christ directs them in a different direction. They receive a change of plans. Theirs hearts have changed. Their entire lives change.

Have you been made whole? If not, you only need ask. Fall at His feet and praise Jesus. Ask Him to change Your heart. Your life will change. Forever.

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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

There Will Be No Turning Back

August 10, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

President Ulysses Grant has, in recent years, become a hero of mine. Many 20th Century historians painted the Civil War general and 18th president through the lens of politicians and military men who were jealous of him and biased against him. They called him a drunkard, and a naive politician. Newer biographers rely on the accounts of those who knew him best and from their research emerges a portrait of a diminutive, unassuming, self-confident, brilliant, pragmatic, and determined strategist.

Grant never sought command over the armed forces Union. He sought only a role commensurate with his West Point training and experience. He was certainly not pro-slavery, but had never taken a stand against it prior to the war. He had – in fact – worked his Missouri farm using slaves that were given to him by his father-in-law. Early in the war, though, he was compelled to take a radical stand. Long before Lincoln freed the slaves, General Grant declared that the nation could remain united only if all men were free. He sought only to lead his troops, but because of his dogged determination and brilliant mind, he soon led the North into new hope and onward toward victory.

Even before Grant defeated Lee, he became a hero. The press followed him everywhere. His likeness appeared on front pages from Washington to Maine. Both Democrats and Republicans talked of nominating him for President in 1864. Congress reinstituted the rank of Lieutenant General to honor him, a rank that was retired after George Washington died. Abraham Lincoln, who had ascertained that Grant abhorred the idea of running for president, concurred with Congress and made Grant General of the Army of the United States. If Grant did not seek greatness, it was certainly thrust upon him.

Though his life is largely forgotten by generations of Americans who can barely describe the Civil War or identify Lincoln, and though his life has been misrepresented in the media, I have to wonder what made him great. Why was Grant a hero and hailed as our country’s savior before he had even set upon the task of vanquishing the Confederate Army in the East?

While one can hardly reduce his appeal to one aspect, the man did possess one quality that stands out in every biography, good or bad, old or new. Even those histories that wrongly portray him as a drunkard mention this one quality as a key to his success. He never gave up.

In the Battle of the Wilderness, in early 1864, Grant – for the first time – faces off in battle against Robert E. Lee. Lee, as brilliant and cunning and determined as Grant, has the advantage of fighting at home. He knows the country, and the terrain. The people of Virginia are Lee’s family and neighbors. They support him. Grant is the invader, far from home, unfamiliar with the country, and faces odds that seem insurmountable. Lesser men than Grant would have fallen back. In fact, other Generals had encountered Lee had previously won victories in the same part of Virginia. Many Union Generals were wary of Lee; all of them respected him. Grant, though, was determined. It was his determination that at him apart from all others and accounted for much of his mass appeal.

Sure, other Union generals were determined, but Grant never faltered, even when the cards were stacked against him. One incident in the Wilderness Campaign illustrates that point. Grants armies were facing off against Lee’s in what is better described as a jungle than a wilderness. Old growth trees, impenetrable undergrowth, unfamiliarity with the lay of the land, fog and smoke were as much an ememy to Union troops as the Confederate soldiers. After initial setbacks, Grant regrouped and began again.

Grant had purposefully been silent, telling Lincoln little about the progress of the battle. One day, though, he discovered a reporter had decided to sneak through the lines to Washington to file a story. Grant called him aside and, in a hushed tone, said, “If you see the President, tell him for me, that whatever happens, there will be no turning back.”

That determined attitude, the short that resolves “No Turning Back,” is one thing missing in the lives of many Christians today. Determination… Discipline… And Faith are all a part of the walk with Christ. If we truly seek the heart and mind of Christ, we must first repent of our sins, trust in Jesus, allow His Spirit to live through us, allow Him to discipline us, and finally determine to follow Him. No turning back.

Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

An old hymn is worth recalling:

I have decided to follow Jesus;

No turning back, no turning back.

Tho’ none go with me, still I will follow,

Tho’ none go with me still I will follow,

Tho’ none go with me, still I will follow;

No turning back, no turning back.

My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;

My cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus,

My cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus;

No turning back, no turning back.

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Circling the Drain

August 9, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

“Kick the bucket,” “pushing up daisies,” “go belly up,” “bite the dust,” “bought the farm,” “cash in his chips,” “dead as a doornail.” “Circling the drain.”

I heard all these euphemisms for death and dying when I was a boy, especially in old movies. I don’t hear so many of them today, or maybe I simply avoid the topic of death. One that I could identify with was the last one, “circling the drain.”

As a child, my brothers and I loved to swim in the Finley River which meandered through the farm where we grew up. Sometimes we would go upstream to Riverdale, an old mill and dam, and float back to our farm. On the way back, we would stop at Blue Hole and swim, for even when waters were shallow, Blue Hole always had enough water to dive and swim. It was inevitable that somewhere along the float trip, conversation would turn to whirlpools.

Whole floating we would sometimes pass a whirlpool, but never the life-threatening sink holes that one found on the James River, the larger stream that lay a few miles down from our farm. The James, it was said, was full of whirlpools that would suck swimmers and boaters to the bottom and drown them. Every year, we heard stories of new drownings.

Turns out the stories are based on facts. There were significant numbers of drownings on the rivers of Southwest Missouri when I was a kid. The whirlpools – the deadly kind – were not just turbulent eddies, but sink holes that opened into underground rivers and caverns. Get near one of those, and it would suck a swimmer straight to the bottom.

Sin acts the same way, for those Christians who are weak in their faith and still flirt with sin, it takes little temptation to lead them into sin. Sin, without fail, leads to eventual death. Sin sucks got right in and – once it has you – there is no escape. It is a bottomless pit that leads to death, a whirlpool from which the is no escape. Sin, when it claps is wicked hands around your throat, does not easily turn loose.

Only Christ can compel sin to loosen is grip on your heart. Only Christ can toss you a life saver.

At a local amusement park in Branson Missouri, there was -in the 1960s – a ride called The Float Trip. On one turn was an artificially constructed whirlpool with a manikan perpetually circling it, as if condemned to an eternity of drowning. The ride has been transformed and renamed. The lifelike dummy is gone now, but the whirlpool remains. Temptation always remains, but Christ can transform you so that you no longer dive into it.

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