3)
Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4)
According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love:
5)
Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will,
6)
To the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
|
M |
any people will confess that they have
been chosen of the Lord, yet few will acknowledge that what He has
chosen for His people is holiness. Whether acknowledged or not, once one has
accepted the call of God, he has no choice but to follow the example of the One
Who has called (chosen) him.
In that the Lord makes it clear to us
what He expects and what He will accept, we do not have the option of living as
we please. When we come to Him, we understand that we are required to be holy.
Of course, in that "holiness" represents a separation for the service
of God, it is telling that Man, today, tries to stay as close to the World as
possible.
The standard of holiness can be
exhibited in a spiritual vessel, only. Therefore, from the time one is saved,
he must "cultivate" holiness. This means that we can handle nothing
as a fleshly man would, but must, at all times, make spiritual reactions and
actions a habit.
Many things masquerade as and
substitute for holiness, today. People are trying to be holy without all the
necessary tools. Even Apostolics are beginning to
question why, baptism in the "Father, Son, Holy Ghost and Jesus'
Name" is not valid. Well, when one baptizes this way, he shows that he
does not know Who Jesus is—and that knowledge is essential to salvation.
The "call" placed upon any
man that will hear and accept is for us to be holy. Holiness involves trust and
complete obedience—and dependence. If we are rightly going to serve the God Who
saved us, we are going to have to finally accept that He did not come to reside
in us for us to defend ourselves. He did not come for us to look out for our
own welfare. If we really wanted an answer, we would accept the
"answer" given to us in Jesus Christ.
It is never necessary that we go
outside of the Lord to get or accomplish anything! All we need is
"wrapped up" in Him. Of course, this means that in order for us to
acquire it, we must be "wrapped up" in Him. Now, when we remain
ignorant to our Source of help, we will not see how important this is.
Foolishly, we spend much valuable time being upset with the Lord and blaming
Him for things. We try then, to justify our mistrust of Him in this way, when
in reality, we simply punish ourselves.
If it is deliverance we need and
desire, we are going to have to appeal to Jesus. He is Deliverance and He is
the only One with the power to save Man from himself. Many people are being
lost over friends who they put before the Lord. What will it take for us to
fully understand that those earthly relationships are transitory, at best, and
based upon how people feel at the moment? The one who
is your best friend now, can be unwilling to speak to you, later. On the other
hand, providing the definition of friendship is Jesus, Who laid down His life
for us. Despite the good intentions and efforts of our friends, Jesus is the
only Friend we have who will ever really be able to "help" us. He is
the only One with the answers to all problems—and the Power to
"deliver" them.
Amongst our several "fatal
flaw(s)" is our tendency to look at what we are "dealing" with
rather than that from which we have already been delivered. There is not one of
the redeemed who does not know what the Lord has done for him. If we know
nothing else, we know where we were—and that we are not there, now. Try
as some might to do just that, nothing can erase this knowledge.
The cold, hard facts are these: we have
chosen to live a life which has an imposed standard; we have chosen to live
holy. Along with this choice comes perceived pressure from others, who would
have you remain as you are, rather than make them question who and what they really
are.
Believing in "justifiable
complaints" is proving to be the "death sentence" of the saint.
We are not taught in scripture that one can constantly disagree with the
"program" and be justified, blessed and righteous. We are taught that
these are distractions meant by the devil to neutralize and divide. Disagreeing
with the pastor, auxiliary leaders and anyone else has become commonplace and
looked upon as almost a God-given "right." Well, here's a news-flash:
far from being expected or accepted, God sees this behavior as being against
all that He stands for.
Most things in our lives that God has
given us, we take for granted. Not only can we not take what we have
for granted (that is, possessions, health, happiness and family amongst other
things), we must also realize that a blessing of salvation is that not only
do we wake up, but when we wake up, we wake up saved! God is to be
praised for being a keeper! We did not, as so many do, wake up drunk, we did
not wake up craving crack, we did not awaken with a guilty conscience about
an illicit sexual act! We did wake up with a clear conscience and a
mind to serve God!