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Posted: 04/15/2009 at 4:45am
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The Decision to Love - The Decision of Holiness
By Ron McGatlin
The call of God is again urgently sounding to the ends of the earth. It is as though there is a mighty fork just ahead in the river of life and time, and the current is carrying the entire world rapidly toward this great divide. There is not a third stream, only the two, and all human life is being divided into one or the other. The river of life and time does not stop for pause to consider, and once in the dividing waters the choice is made final. We are only assured of today in which to decide.
The urgent call from God is CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE. All mankind is being divided into two peoples: those who truly serve the Lord God and those who do not.
Joshua presented a similar challenge to the children of Israel. It was necessary for them to abandon the gods of their fathers from the other side of the river. It is urgent today that many of us leave the gods of our past and serve the one true God in sincerity and in truth.
Josh 24:14: "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!
Josh 24:15: "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Come out of deception.
This is a major call to come out of the deception of our other gods and into the glorious light of pure holy life in the one true God. For generations we have been seduced by other gods into unholy deception. We have called evil good and good evil. We have made ourselves as gods and served ourselves. Self-fulfillment and personal pleasure have taken many into the depth of deception of subconsciously seeing God as our servant to provide for us as we desire according to our own independent appetites.
Our fathers invented religious teachings to cover the unrighteousness of self-centered living in wanton pleasure seeking. They devised teachings that made us to be only beneficiaries and placed all responsibility on God for our righteousness and provision.
Teachings have today become popular among many that cause people to believe that they are holy and in right standing with God while they continue to walk in sinful disobedience to God and without intimate relationship with Him.
Wake up. It is not possible to continue in oneness with holy God and walk in sin.
Erroneous teaching has moved from legalism of keeping ourselves holy by fighting against inner self desires and keeping religious rules to the other extreme of believing we have no part in our living holy lives. This current error propagates that we all continue in sin and God makes that all right if we believe that he does. In this erroneous teaching it appears that the only recognized sin is the act of believing that we have sin. According to this teaching, even while we continue to walk in disobedience to God we should believe we have no sin. Thus there is no need for repentance or turning back to God from sin.
Holiness is a work of communion with God. Holiness never was and never will be a work of man using his natural effort to stop doing wrong and start doing right. Neither is holiness pretending that God does not see our continued walk in sin and believing that He calls our disobedient walk holy.
Holiness is a decision we make to love God. It is a process that begins with responding to the love of God by turning to Him and away from self and all other gods. As we make the turn of repentance, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, and we are free to enter through the rent veil of separation into intimate oneness with God. As we continue to truly abide in Him and He abides in us, we do not sin. We are continuously made holy in the passionate love relationship of oneness. We live to please God and are empowered by His love. We live wholly for Him and are dead to the old self-life and the life of striving to be holy.
If we draw back to walk apart from oneness with God and walk in the darkness of sin and say we have no sin, we make Him a liar and the truth is not in us. There remains no further sacrifice for us than is already given. There is no more God can do for us than has been done. If intimate oneness with the living God of all creation is not enough for us, there remains no more He can do. However, if we decide to confess our sin and turn back (repent), we are restored to the potential of oneness in God. It is our decision to respond to His love and become one with Him. However, if we walk in sin and say we have no sin because Jesus died for all men or for any other reason, we are deceiving ourselves.
1 John 1:6: If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1 John 1:8-9: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Love is first a decision.
Humans are so impressed with the feelings of natural love that for the most part have come to believe that they have no control over what or whom they love. We need to recognize that we have the ability to “set our affection.” We can decide to love whether feelings are present or not in the beginning.
Probably anyone reading this who has been involved in ministry to married couples have told a husband that Jesus said for him to love his wife and heard the reply. “I am trying to love her.” This usually means I am trying to have loving feelings, but the circumstances are such that I just don’t really feel love for her anymore. They do not recognize that love begins with a decision to love. Love involves deciding to lay down your life for another.
The same things are true regarding truly loving God. Deciding to love God with our whole hearts is the most important decision of life. The feelings may or may not be present at the moment of decision. However, as we draw near to God in the Spirit and lay down our lives, the love of God will overwhelm us and consume us into becoming one with Him. This is one of the great mysteries of the kingdom of God that religion has no ability to understand. This is true relational reality of being the Bride and becoming the wife of God fulfilling the greatest calling of all life. True holiness and purity of life without sin and disobedience is the result of truly becoming one with God.
1 John 3:5-7: And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
1 John 4:16: And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Mat 22:37-39: Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Holiness comes through being in love with God. It is through this relationship that the substance of Christ flows into us, and we become one with Him and have love for our brothers. Loving God is first a decision that becomes a relationship that produces real holiness.
Edited by Ron McGatlin on 04/17/2009 at 7:33am
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Topic: THE DECISION TO LOVE - THE DECISION OF HOLINESS
