To Frolic or To Fight?

Several conversations had taken place within the last few days of my life.  Conversations about being "too radical" so as to offend others and discussions about loving others rather than calling them and exhorting one another, in love, to living a life of holiness.  I found my heart aching within me as to the gray dismay that we as followers of God Almighty find ourselves in.

I began to chew on these thoughts later and found myself amazed at where we have gone as a people.  Everyone wants to talk about love this and love that.  It's all too comfortable to sit around a Bible study with our cups of coffee and our complacent slippers on as we talk about the love the Father has for us.  I have yet to walk into a study where we are discussing the pure holiness of God and just how much we fall short.  That's real talk, that's raw.  I don't want to just feel the hug of God and skip along, I want to feel His fire and burn.

Please don't get me wrong.  The love that the Father has for us is something that is life altering.  I remember several months ago one night when I was at prayer and a song came on talking about God the Father and how He loves us.  And for the first time in 28 years, it penetrated my heart.  I believed it to be true, and that was something so new and refreshing to me.  I remember just crying with joy at the thought.  I'll never forget that night, and I long to go back to that place again.  It is crucial and good to celebrate the love of God and to share that with others.  By all means, Jesus told us the greatest commandment was to love Him first and with everything, but that the second was like it:  Love others.  We must walk and live in love.  But I am afraid we have crossed a line, and we must get back.

Too many people want to frolic around in the love of God, but you never hear of people getting excited or enthralled with running hard after holiness.  I've been thinking about this holiness thing lately.  God doesn't give us an option.  It's a command, He says:  "Be holy because I am holy."  (Leviticus 19:2)  I was talking with someone and we were talking about this idea of love versus holiness.  A wise person once said, I care about our friendship but I love you more to be honest.  Amen and amen!  How refreshing it is!  Iron sharpens iron!  I don't want a hug, I don't want a pat on the back.  I don't want to be a part of cuddley Christianity.  What I do want is to strive for holiness in every area of my life, and I want people to call me on that.  There is nothing self-righteous or "holier than thou" about any of this.  But you see, for those merely living to frolic in this "love thing", it does feel uncomfortable.  Because here's the deal:  I'm not judging you.  Who am I?  Just a broken sinner in need of God's grace like you!  But what you feel is the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  Don't pin that on me.  The Scriptures talk all the time of people who have hardened their hearts and not heard the voice of the Lord.  We've all been there; the truth is, sometimes we just don't want to hear what He has to say.

This business of complacency and mediocrity within the church today must get shut down.  We must get to that place where we have a Ztp (Zero Tolerance Policy) with regards to these things.  God is not looking to raise up another choir, He is raising up an army.  The church doesn't need another basket of cookies in the name of love, we need a burning of fire in the name of holiness.  When things burn, the impurities rise to the top.  The less of us there is, the more of Jesus there is.  Everyone wants the hug, nobody wants the burn.

I have looked at my life and asked what has shaped me and changed me in so many ways.  While that night of revelation of God's love for me was huge, it didn't change me.  But when I looked into the eyes of fire and read in the Word who Jesus was, and still is, and then I look in the mirror, I am horrified by my own falling short and say God Almighty have mercy upon my filthy soul.  Come and burn me up.  Come consume me.  And then when I yield myself to Him and to the sharpening, oh how things begin to change.

Soldiers in an army don't just kick back and relax at the injustice around them.  A fighter doesn't quit after taking one and getting knocked down.  A warrior doesn't go into battle half-hearted.  Oh that the church would rise up and be what the church was intended to be!  Oh that the people of God would run after holiness like we do our own selfish goals and desires!  Oh that the warriors of God's army would dare to fight for holiness for once!  I don't want to just sit in my armor, enlisted and not moving, loved but not living!  Today I choose to fight, after all, King Jesus is a mighty warrior!  Come and burn me up oh God, consume me with your fire!