Tag: faith | Page 3

Working My Way Back…?

July 4, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

An old disco song from the early 80s contained these lyrics:

I’ll be working my way back to you, babe, with a burning love inside

Yeah, I’m working my way back to you, babe, and the happiness that died

I let it get away

That old hit (written by Denny Randall and Sandy Linzer) could easily be made into a Christian song, but it would be so wrong. In the song, released by the Spinners in late 1979, the story teller boasts to his love that, even though he has cheated and emotionally abused her, he begs her forgiveness and will be “working my way back to you.”

Too often, Christians feel the same way. We promise God that we love Him and will never go back to our habitual sins (this that we love so much). Then, when we fall into the same old trap and sin again, we set out to work our way back into His favor.

The thing is, that doesn’t work for God. When Christ died for us, His sacrifice was for all our sin, past or future. Neither salvation nor sanctification is based on our merit. We can earn neither.

Then how does one become sanctified? Through faith, just like salvation. Read Hebrews 10:10:

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

We have been sanctified. Notice that the word “sanctified” is passive. We are not sanctifying ourselves; rather, God has sanctified us.

Because we are human, stuck in bodies, with imperfect minds, and fragile emotions, we are no more able to live a holy life than we are able to save ourselves from hell.

Why, then, so most Christians get hung up on how we live? Because we often confuse sanctification and holiness with discipleship. Nothing we do will get us into heaven. Nothing we do will make God love us more.

Likewise, so long as we are believers in Jesus Christ, nothing we do will lose is our spot in heaven, and nothing we do will cause God to live is less.

This may sound radical to many in A holiness church, but it is true. There is a place for holy living and Good sites call us to separate ourselves from the world, but we are unable to do either.

We cannot live a holy life. We can only have faith that Christ can live His life through me. Only He can sanctify me and only He can live a holy life through me.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Fear Not; Do God’s Work.

January 11, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

I remember reading years ago of George Mueller, an incredible 19th Century man of faith who built five orphanages that housed 10,024 children during his lifetime. He built them on faith.
Once, three hundred of the orphans were dressed and ready for school, but there was no food in the orphanage for them to eat.

“Take the children to the dining room and set them at the tables,” he told the housemother. He then prayed, and thanked God for that which He provided, even before He had provided a bite to eat.

Within minutes a baker had knocked on the door and delivered bread to the children, telling Mueller that God had impressed it upon his heart to give it to the children. Then a milk man knocked on the door. His cart had broken down and the milk would spoil unless he found someone to use it. He gave the milk to the orphans.

Mueller never doubted that God would provide. Through his 92 years, Mueller lived by faith. In addition to five orphanages, he preached in the same church three times a week for most of sixty years. He worked beside D.L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, and Hudson Taylor. He traveled to 42 nations, preaching the Gospel. In the end, he personally preached to over three million people. All the while, he trusted in God to pave the way and provide the means.

He took the promise of God to David and Solomon to heart. “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.”

Do not fear. The same God who called you to do His work, has already provided the means for you to complete that work.

Fear Not 365 – Only Believe (Mark 5:36)

January 10, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

One never knows when tragedy will strike; it usually arrives without warning. 20 years ago, I was at work on a slow, rainy day, staring out the window at a parade of first responder vehicles racing down the highway. Little did I know they were headed toward an auto accident six miles down the road, one in which my wife had been hit head-on.

Jairus had no warning when tragedy struck his house (Mark 5). He was a man of some importance, a ruler in the synagogue, which is more or less like the chief administrator at the church. Life had been good to him. He was prosperous. He had a family. What could go wrong?

For most people, though, something usually does go wrong. Jairus’s daughter fell ill, very ill. He was desperate. This girl was the love of his life, his reason to live, as any daughter is for any good father. She was obviously dying and there was nothing that any doctor could do for her.

Then, Jesus arrived on the shores of his town. He begged Jesus to heal her, and Jesus immediately headed to his house, followed by a throng of people. On the way there, though, Jesus stopped.

“Who touched me?” said Jesus.

Jairus panicked. His daughter was deathly ill. There was no time to waste. He must have thought Jesus crazy, for He was surrounded by hundreds of people, each vying for His attention, yet the Master had asked who touched Him?

In his mind, Jairus screams, “Come, hurry, Jesus. There’s no time for this…” Only the dignity of his position prevents him from grabbing the Master by the arm and dragging him to his daughter’s side.

No sooner does Jesus bless and heal the woman that had touched Him, than Jairus sees his servants rushing into the crowd. They need not speak. He could tell by their expressions that his daughter had passed.

When the servants did speak and confirm his deepest fears, he lost it. Tears welled in his eyes. His lips quivered. His hands shook. His heart sank. Death had called on his home, and taken his daughter. Oh, that he could take her place. If only the woman hadn’t distracted the Master. If only…

The Master, though, had heard the servants and took pity on Jairus. “Do not be afraid. Only believe.”

Jairus heard those words and looked into the eyes of the Master and saw not death, rather he saw eyes full of life, light and love. What he felt as he did so compelled him to believe. For when Jesus spoke, the ruler of the synagogue understood this: no one loved his daughter more than he, except the Master. And, at that very moment, Jairus knew that whatever he found when he arrived home, all would be well because his home was in the hands of the living God.

Oh, that I had understood the lessons of Mark 5 twenty years ago, when the sheriff called my office and asked me to meet him at the scene of my wife’s accident. I would have saved myself a world of grief had I trusted in God like Jairus.

So long as we listen to the words of Jesus, keep our eyes on Him, and invite Him into our home, all will be well. No matter what tragedy strikes, it is but a small bump in an eternal road; God will provide us the strength to endure whatever besets us. “Do not be afraid. Only believe.”