In Perpetual Pursuit of a Higher Level of Holiness

As children of God, we are called not to live passive lives. The Christian life is a dynamic life, a perpetual process; we must be continually alert and continually surrender ourselves to the Lord.

It pains me to admit it, but most of us Christians live in an attitude of complacency, of passivity, and we believe that the Christian life is simply going to church on Sundays, sitting on a pew there half-listening to a sermon, then going home and coming back the next Sunday to do the same thing. We think that by doing so we have fulfilled the call of the Christian life, when it is something entirely different. It is a perpetual surrender, a perpetual question before the Lord: Lord, what must I do to please You? How can I surrender another part of my being to You so that You may keep transforming me, making me more like Christ?

The Christian life is more a life of discipline, of continual warfare, of perpetual activity, of continual transformation and improvement. I think of the words of David the psalmist when he says: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts; see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” That must be the posture of every Christian who takes the Christian life seriously.

It is an attitude of: Lord, through Your Holy Spirit, continually shine Your light on my life, examining different areas of my being—attitudes, conduct, words, thoughts—and shine Your light on them. Make me aware of any area of sin, evil, or injustice, and lead me along the path of truth, love, justice, and holiness. Whatever is crooked in my life, Lord, make it known to me; make me aware of it, put in me a sense of urgency and a hatred of those negative things, and then help me redirect my energies and conform to the path of holiness and righteousness.

The Christian life is not easy; life is not for cowards. The Christian life is not for fainthearted, complacent people; it is a life for warriors, for soldiers of the Spirit who are continually alert in prayer and fasting, in perpetual pursuit of that higher level of holiness.

And by the way, I do not want this to leave you feeling tired and burdened, as though it were a life like that of a monk in a cave, whipping your back and despising the beautiful things in the world. Quite the opposite. When we live our lives continually surrendering ourselves to the Lord and submitting to His Word, that allows us to live a much lighter, more joyful, less encumbered life, more in harmony with the laws God has established in the world. Then come peace, joy, blessing, and even prosperity and progress in our lives; joy in the Lord, harmony with our loved ones, parenting more like Christ’s, the love of our fellow human beings, and the joy and satisfaction of seeing ourselves used by the Lord in teaching, counseling, and evangelism. It is a precious life.

Paradoxically, as we strip ourselves of things and surrender ourselves to the Lord, and let Him crucify us and make us a living sacrifice, we begin to experience the joy of the Lord; we begin to experience that abundant life which Christ came to give us. What truly leads to suffering, pain, the contradictions and agonies of the world is the unredeemed life, the life not surrendered to the Lord, the life that wants simply to be lived freely without submitting to the principles of the Gospel. That life leads to contradictions, suffering, losses, and failure.

But when we allow the Lord to deal with us, then that life of alertness, that life of discipline, that life of continually living as a sacrifice before God leads to peace and joy. So by no means should this call to live a dynamic life of perpetual discipleship be understood as a life like that of a monk in agony; rather, it is what allows us to live a life of freedom.

But it has to be this way; there is a price to pay. The complacent person—the Christian, the person who believes that by punching the time clock they have done all they need to do—is deceiving themselves. Entering into the Gospel means entering a life of letting God deal with us, crucify us, purify us, and continually asking the Lord and the Holy Spirit: What do You want me to do? And then, as our minds are renewed, we can see things differently.

We then see that the things in the world that once seemed good and just to us are not so in the light of our understanding of the Word, and that the things that once made us say, “Oh, that’s unfair,” or “Why do I have to do this?” now make perfect sense in the light of the Lord’s Word. May the Lord bless you, and until our next meditation.