God's Standard Versus My Standards

     Tonight as I was trying to fall asleep (to no avail) my mind kept just drifting to different subjects that made me feel uncomfortable. I quickly turned on my light and looked up verses that had to do with what I was dealing with. In the concordance in the back of my Bible I looked up the words 'temptation' and 'tempted'. My mind after reading those verses turned to God's standards. A common theme throughout the Old Testament is these long drawn out rules that are impossible to keep. In my opinion the standard gets even more difficult in the New Testament. I look at the Church's standard of Holiness, Zac's slightly stricter standard of Holiness, and God's actual standard of Holiness. You see Zac's standard of Holiness is warped because of Church's standard of Holiness. In my eyes, I unknowingly feel holy or condemned by the actions of those in the Christian Community. I don't curse, so I must be holier than Mr. Sailor. I don't drink, so I must be holier than Mr. Alcoholic. I don't prostitute myself around sexually, so I'm definitely holier than Mr. Fornicator. But how pure is Mr. No sex-drugs-alcohol-profanity in the eyes of God. To be fully honest...just as holy as Mr. Sailor, Mr. Alcoholic, and Mr. Fornicator.  I'm willing to go a step farther and saying I'm not any more holier than Mr. Struggling Homosexual in the Church. *Cue the dramatic gasp* You see Mr. Holy may not be all those things on the outside, but he is on the inside. Mr. Holy's impure thought during class makes him Mr. Fornicator. Mr. Holy's mental cuss out in the high speed lane when he has to turn off his very comfortable cruise control because someone slower decides to get in the lane classifies him as Mr. Sailor. Mr. Holy's constant statement of when he is home on the weekend that he'd rather be out partying and drink and having a good ol' time puts him in the same boat as Mr. Alcoholic. All of the above I've been guilty of more than enough times. We allow out standard of holiness be defined by sinners themselves rather than God. 

    You see I'm a firm believer that God has begun a great sanctification work in me from the second I said "Amen" when I answered the salvation message. I know for a fact that that very work that had begun almost 4 years ago will not be complete as long as I'm breathing on this earth. That being said I also know that the degree of sinfulness in me today should not be the same level it was 4 years ago which shouldn't be the same 4 years from now. I often look at people in the Church and say " Why are they so complacent in their pursuit of holiness? They keep rounding the same mountain over and over." The actuality is that chances are that person is not 1. Relying on God to allow for His deliverance or 2. They become complacent because they think they're holier than new Christians and thus they have arrived rather than look at the standard God has. 

      I personally have really strict views on sex, dating, music, and ultimately anything secular. My 'strict' views come out in my preaching, teaching, ministering, and overall opinion of subjects. I've come to learn even my standards are too lax compared to God's. I don't want to portray a God that is so strict and unmerciful that He is unapproachable because that is the exact opposite of His nature. I want to just reveal the absolute Sovereignty and Holiness of God. I often hear Christians say, " I have grace for that!" Or " I'm not held to that kind of standard." I do believe that God calls some Christians to a higher level of holiness than others, BUT I don't believe our visions are to be too far off from one another. One subject that comes to me is the issue of dating. Teenagers and your dating. It's enough to make me nuts. My personal view...a Christian is not able to causally date and still be following the will of God. I do not believe that God would ordain a relationship that is meant to end and most of the time end with regret and hurt. I've heard before, " Well that's just too strict or legalistic!" Can we look for a second at God's intention of dating? God has ordained courting as the period of time to better familiarize yourself with the spouse He designed for you before engagement and marriage. Courting is sacred. I believe that it is the foundations of the family and relationship the two will have to build on. Courting is meant to study, pray, and encounter God together, and as well learn each other. I don't believe courting should be entered lightly but rather it be a declaration of a marriage in the making. The emotional and spiritual connection that is destined to happen between to Spirit-filled Christians should not be entered casually and be entered with multiple different people before " the one" rolls along. God calls you to be patient and alert waiting for the man or woman He has for you. Not play around until they come along. 

     God's final destination for us is far greater than we can ever comprehend. I honestly believe that if we throw away the vision we have of holiness based on earthly merit and others that we would become an even more empowered people constantly moving towards the prize. When we become God minded rather than church minded our Holiness comes so much easier than trying to keep up with an ever changing standard that the World and the Church set for us. It may seem that achieving God's standard of Holiness is much harder than your own personal criteria or the criteria posed by the people of the Church. However, that's just what the enemy wants you to believe. When you decide to abandon every preconceived notion of how to be holy and allow God to define it in your heart so gain a freedom that the enemy never wanted you to have.  Being holy becomes so much easier because God just doesn't stop at giving you the desire to be His kind of holy, but He personally, by His sovereign hands walks you through the process to the point that the thought of sin quickly becomes taken captive. God won't create a standard within you that you can't reach, but by His Spirit will make you a new being and one day will complete it in Glory. 

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."- Philippians 1:6