Self Discovery - Again....

The Book of Ephesians

I'm not sure how it happened today. Maybe it was the fact that I haven't been sleeping well and was late getting up and we were a bit rushed. I'm not certain. But my experience at church this morning was really revealing for me. It was fortunate that I didn't let the preaching interrupt my worship because it was poor, but it did spur my thinking. Thinking about "holiness".

There's little doubt that my life has been a lot of things but classifying it as "holy" would not be a word a would use. But then, I don't need some one telling me that. Nor does any one else I suspect. What I do need to know is what do I need to do about it. Specifically.

Paul says that we were chosen "in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love". (Eph 1:4); "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (2:10); "You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness". (4:22-24)

In other words, new relationship - new life - new life expressed in new character. Not easy, but doable. Who is responsible? I am. Can I do it by myself, of course not and Paul makes that clear. But there is THE STREET CALLED STRAIGHT that God has called all of us to walk down. "We must no longer be children tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way unto him who is the head, into Christ..." (4:14-15)

Can I live a holy life? Certainly. I have that obligation because of whose I am. How can I live a holy life? Understanding that I am His by grace through faith; the life I now live I live by faith through the power of the Holy Spirit; my strength comes from feeding on God's word which serves, at the same time, as my 'road map'; the gifts I have our to be expressed through the body of Christ which in turn has an "obligation" to sustain me through their individual gifts.

It is not going to be easy. That is why I have asked friends, family members, and others to pray for me. As I must for them. We can not do this alone. And we are NOT alone.

Will you join me on The Street Called Straight?