Thoughts for another day

May 7, 2012

Today's verse: Ps. 116:7. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you. (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Recently I went for a talk on holiness, a subject I love and a trait I'm trying to imbibe in my life.  Now the speaker wasn't one I'd expect to speak on the subject, not because he isn't holy or he can't speak on it, but that he's too lighthearted and methodology oriented in his style to talk on so deep a subject like holiness.  But I remember once, when I hesitated to go for a talk because I felt the speaker wasn't fit for the subject, the Lord instructed that I go, while convincing me that even from these preachers I could get something and I did for I know obedience to Him is far greater than anything else.

By the way, lest I seem to be arrogant, let me right away say that I'm no big preacher but just that I understand there're certain ways people preach and each preacher is best suited for a particular subject; that is God's gift.  In the course of preaching, true to his style, the guy came to methodology or step by step approach.  I noticed many people were loving his talk and his methods; but frankly, I felt a big letdown.  I learnt that holiness is one of the most difficult subjects to preach on, not that anyone is holy enough to talk on it cause none of us are, but that it's a subject preached solely by the Spirit's power for He alone can open the Book of Holiness and teach us its ways and no person can preach on it unless, the Holy Spirit directs him.

As I look at our verse today, I know that being at rest is a gift from God which He gives because He is good to us. So too, holiness is His gift.  There're no 5-steps to holiness or any gimmick by which we're to get even a faint idea of how to be holy.  It's only when we come in utter weakness before His Cross, being broken and prostrate before Him, that a man can even understand holiness, for tell me who can define holiness or even touch on it; but God is holy and wants us to be holy for He says, 'Be Holy as I AM holy' and of ourselves, we can hardly climb even one rung of the ladder of holiness.  But remember, without holiness, it's impossible to see God who is holy and so it has to be our objective in life to be holy.  Only and only through Jesus Christ can we ever be holy, there're no signs, no symbols, no rituals, no sacrifices, or any other thing that can make us holy, except the Lord Jesus Christ.  Obeying Him by moving towards His Cross and invoking His Name can alone make us holy and this holiness none can take away from us.