J. Grant Swank, Jr.
God
invites us to enter into one of the most spectacular lives possible. It
is living just a bit lower than the angels; that is wonderful,
considering the spiritually distraught world we live in.
What
is this glorious possibility? It is on-going holiness. How kind of the
Father not to stop with salvation. We would have known the release
from sins committed; however, we still would have been locked into our
selfishness.
Yet our powerful God made it possible for us to
experience release from self-centeredness so as to live in outlandish
freedom, doing His bidding lovingly. This is astoundingly Good
News--the full gospel. It is God's invitation to holiness.
Jesus calls me; I must follow,
Follow Him today.
When His tender voice is pleading,
How can I delay?
Follow, I will follow Thee, my Lord,
Follow every passing day.
My tomorrows are all known to Thee;
Thou wilt lead me all the way.
So testified Howard L. Brown and Margaret W. Brown in that well-known commitment hymn.
How then do we get started on this way?
(1)
We begin by telling God that we adore Him, love Him supremely, wanting
nothing more than increased knowledge of Him. By looking into His
gentle face, WE HAND HIM EVERYTHING--not out of coercion but gladly.
More than gladly, gushingly, actually pushing our all upon His heart,
begging Him to take it for His goodness.
What a thought to
dawn upon our weary brains. It is coming to realize that God truly
deserves this. Instead of our holding back our turf while still trying
to be religious, we now fling our everything toward Him, more than
willing for Him to have it, cleanse it and then give it back for
service rather than selfishness.
And so we sing with all of our hearts:
Search me, O God, and know my heart today.
Try me, O Savior; know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from EVERY sin, and set me free.
Lord, take my life and make it wholly Thine;
Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine.
Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride.
I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.
(2) Our gracious Lord responds. Does He ever respond!
He
made us for this very point in our lives. This was His original
intention for us as human creatures. He desperately wants children who
love Him totally as He loves us totally. It was that dreadful mess-up
in Eden which got things off track.
However, when the Father sees one of His own
trek back to Eden, determined to embrace Him and be embraced by Him,
then heaven's hug takes over. "Oh, how He loves you and me!"
IN
THAT CARESS COMES OUR CLEANSING FROM THAT DREADFUL SELFISHNESS. How we
have wanted that to go, to drop off; it has been our bane for too long.
Is this truly possible--personally, practically? Yes! "Nothing shall be impossible unto you" (Matthew l7:20).
"IT
IS POSSIBLE, for those who really are willing to reckon on the power of
the Lord for keeping and victory, to lead a life in which His promises
are taken as they stand and are found to be true.
"IT IS POSSIBLE to have the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts purified, in the deepest meaning of the word.
"IT IS POSSIBLE to cast all our care upon Him daily and to enjoy deep peace in doing it." So sang H. C. G.
Moule.
How
compassionate is God! How providing for His own who hunger and thirst
for holiness. What gifts from glory He has prepared for such souls.
He will silently plan for thee
Some wonderful surprise of love.
Eye hath not seen, not ear hath heard,
But it is kept for thee above.
Such was the praise hymn of Mary Grimes as she came upon the holy love gift from her Father in heaven.
(3)
Then having begun at heaven's love feast, would we ever want to go
back? Having been folded in by the Lord's endearing arms, would we
ever desire any other boundary? Surely not.
This is the
start of on-going holiness. It is that grand entrance into the
awareness of the consecration. WE PICTURE OURSELVES STRETCHED OUT UPON
GOD'S ALTAR, YIELDING OUR ALL FOR THE SACRIFICE OF LIVING.
As
Mrs. Charles Cowman has witnessed: "This is the Blessed Life--not
anxious to see far in front, not careful about the next step, not eager
to choose the path, nor weighted with the heavy responsibilities of the
future, but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time."
With
a world that is dying prostrate before the world's idols, we yearn to
climb atop God's table for His holy blessing. So it is He receives us
home to His heart.
(4) ALL THAT IS AHEAD IS SIMPLY MORE OF
THIS SPLENDOR AS WE CONTINUE TO HEED HIS NOD. Father informs us to do
this, we do it. He asks us to do that, we gladly do it.
As
saintly Brother Lawrence of the l7th century exclaimed: "Let God do
what He pleases with me; I desire only Him and to be wholly devoted to
Him. The soul that enjoys God desires nothing but Him. If this be
delusion in me, it belongs to God to remedy it!"
Our soul
hunger then becomes extremely simple; it is more of His holiness,
exploring those marvelous caverns of discovery, deepening and delight.
It is permitting the Sanctifying Spirit to have His complete way in all
things.
As J. Danson Smith has exclaimed:
HE GOES BEFORE! Be this my consolation!
He goes before! On this my heart would dwell!
He goes before! This guarantees salvation!
HE GOES BEFORE! And therefore all is well!
Once
in a while, however, the old yen may get hold of us. It is that urge
to look back, perhaps only for a second or two. "The good life," we
once called it. Yet we have come to know its toys tarnish, its fads
fade and its baits leave us hanging on the hook. In our best of
desires, we know there is no going back.
(5) We used to
fret over bills, salary promotions, vying at the work place. We
stumbled over the tiniest pebble. We yanked to right and left to press
our own plans, then pouted when we did not get our ways. We held the
Bible in hand, yet held our own ambitions more dearly.
What a trying time that used to be. We will be done with that tripping and falling, that spiritual double-mindedness.
The
sanctified believers take hands off of life's control--past, present
and future. Existence itself is to be consumed by the holy God.
Double-mindedness yields to single-mindedness. God. God. God.
As
Francois de la Fenelon counseled: "Smite, or heal, depress me, or
raise me up; I adore all Thy purposes without knowing them; I am
silent; I offer myself to sacrifice; I yield myself to Thee; I would
have no other desire than to accomplish Thy will."
"THY will". GOD'S will. HEAVEN'S way. ETERNITY'S dominance of my very being--all of it, now and
forever.
Oswald
Chambers wrote: "'Take no thought for your life.' 'Be careful about
one thing only,' says our Lord, 'your relationship to Me.' Common
sense shouts loud and says--'That's absurd. I MUST consider how I am
going to live. I MUST consider what I am going to eat and drink.' Jesus
says you must not."
With this, God has taken us by the hand,
leading us into liberty. It is the pure air we now breathe, the clean,
high mountain yielding to His pastures. This does not mean that all is
rosy, without problems and frustrations; but it does mean that THERE IS
NO MORE ARGUMENT AS TO WHO IS IN CHARGE, WHO CARES ENOUGH TO LEAD.
Naturally
there will be trials. LIfe is made up of them. We live in a
spiritually fallen world. But God as Sanctifying Spirit is more
powerful in you, purified one, than all the demons in this world.
So
it was that Aphra White encouraged: "The time of testing that marks
and mightily enriches a soul's spiritual career is no ordinary one, but
a period when all hell seems let loose, a period when we realize our
souls are brought into a net, when we know that God is permitting us to
be in the devil's hand.
"But
it is a period which always ends in certain triumph for those who have
committed the keeping of their souls to Him, a period of marvelous
'nevertheless afterward' of abundant usefulness, the sixty-fold that
surely follows."
Oswald Chambers tutors us in this
sanctified way with. . ."Let the attitude of the life be a continual
'going out' in dependence upon God and your life will have an ineffable
charm about it which is a satisfaction to Jesus."
(6) Our
wallets, front yards and back yards, cars, houses, stock and bonds, our
children and spouses, aches and pains are all stretched out there upon
His table. We have given Him our bosses and neighbors, our relatives
and health, our wardrobes and summer cottages. Our Sundays and Mondays,
our nights and days, our parties and Friday night entertainments are
all His.
What a wonderful way to wake up in the morning! Fulfilling! Exhilarating!
And
to think that He has washed all of that life clean--holiness! Can it
actually be that down-to-earth? Yes, it is meant to be that real--now
and here!
As Brother Lawrence preached: "There is not in
the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a
continual conversation with God. The heart must be empty of all other
things, because God will possess the heart alone; and as He cannot
possess it alone without emptying it of all besides, so neither can He
act there, and do in it what He pleases, unless it be LEFT VACANT TO
HIM."
Vacant as a welcome to the purging Holy Spirit--now and here!
Come, Spirit,
come--our hearts control;
Our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed;
By this we worship, and are freed.
So wrote Hal Hopson, describing in choral phrasings the deep work of God upon the surrendered human spirit.
But
what about differences of opinion? And then there are those people who
are hard to live with. What about the doctor's report that I have
cancer or the child who died in her crib?
There are also my
feelings of inferiority and the twinges of prejudice which still linger
from my childhood upbringing. How does holiness relate to all of that?
It
relates to all of that. In time, God's continuing hug will help with
those concerns--in time, with patience, in prayer, with insight.
IT'S CALLED ON-GOING HOLINESS--REVEALINGS, PRUNINGS, MATURINGS, RESHAPINGS, REVELINGS, REJOICINGS!
(7)
Can this kind of companionship with the Lord continue till death? It
certainly can; and it should, if one is smart. After all, there are
really no other options once a person has come into the "grand
awareness." All else is tawdry.
"I would have faith to keep the path Christ trod," wrote Howard A. Walter.
"Every bridge is burned behind me; I will never turn from Thee," sang Johnson Oatman, Jr.
"Follow,
follow, I will follow Jesus. Anywhere, everywhere, I will follow on.
Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus. Everywhere He leads me I will
follow on," penned William O. Cushing.
How we love to sing those gospel hymns. And yet how much more exciting to live out those gospel hymns--for life!
Earth's
stay is fluid; that is, it is constantly being challenged. So is our
consecration. Yet the loving, graced child determines to keep his walk
simple in the Lord.
THE FOCUS REMAINS ON HIM, REGARDLESS.
That is what some saints have referred to as "a foretaste of glory
divine." And it really is that: the start of heaven here, in other
words.
But,
again, what about those troubles, problems, testings? What about
sickness and death, disappointments and dreadful surprises?
What
about all of that? Remember: all of that is surrendered to the Spirit
of God, just as is all of life committed to heaven's eye. In that, God
answers then with His comfort and wisdom, His peace and understanding
of life's situations.
Hymn writer Fanny Crosby was blinded
when a newborn. The incorrect prescription was given to her parents
for their child's eye infection. Then being sightless, Fanny learned
when a youth how to yield all to the sanctifying Spirit. Listen to one
of her early poems:
Oh, what a happy soul I am!
Although I cannot see,
I am
resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't!
To weep and sigh because I'm blind
I cannot nor I won't!
(8)
How does one enrich God's on-going holiness? Lots of Bible helps a
lot. Prayer to our compassionate God is a boon. Worship with people of
like hunger strengthens.
Toughening it out in trying times
is needful. Stepping by faith rather than sight is a part of it.
Seeing so much that is good in God's world is broadening. Smiling,
laughing, reaching out to care lifts one higher.
George
Mueller testified: "'For I shall yet praise Him.' More prayer, more
exercise of faith, more patient waiting, and the result will be
blessing, abundant blessing."
HOLINESS SIMPLY GOES ON AND ON, UNCOVERING ITS BEAUTY.
In
other words, sanctification is exploring the awesome might of God
Himself. As Sidney Lanier has written in "The Marshes of Glynn". . .
As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod,
Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God:
I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies
In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and the skies;
By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod
I will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness of God.
No
wonder those who continue in this way become power lights in the
darkness. They magnetize others around them. With so much that is
self-centered in the world, these insightful believers draw us near to
their selfgiving hearts.
And so it is meant by God to continue on out into His eternal wonder. How good of God!