GANEIDA'S KNOT.

Go mbeannai Dia duit.

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Quaker by conviction, mother by default, Celticst through love, Christ follower because I once was lost but now am found...

Monday, May 10, 2010


A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" Isaiah 40:6

A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness...But only the redeemed will walk there, & the ransomed of the Lord will return. Isaiah 35: 8 & 9

The most important work of the Christian, the work with the most potential to impact the world around them, the work that is given as a command [1 Peter:16] is the work of personal holiness. I am not talking here of the poor counterfeit version with it's lists of man~made dos & don'ts but the heartfelt cry of a soul that so desires God it cries with the prophet Isaiah & the apostle Peter, " Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."

Everything else flows from this basic understanding. We have been bought with a price, ransomed, set apart ~ not for our own salvation though we get that too, but as priests & vessels of the Lord & the Lord will not use the unclean thing.

I'm not knocking the work of prayer or outreach or mission but in my view it is plain that these are adjuncts to the primary work of holiness. My reasoning is simple. Nothing is as attractive as holiness, genuine holiness. If we want to reach our unsaved neighbours, unsaved family, unsaved children then we need to have something they want. No~one wants to be someone's outreach project. No~one wants to be someone's prayer duty. No~one wants to be someone's mission. It is insulting. Really, it is. Everyone is attracted to Holiness. They can't help themselves. It spills like light into a dark world. It draws people like a moth to a flame. How do I know? Jesus was God come to Earth as man, the son with whom God was well pleased, the perfect keeper of the Law & the holiest man to ever walk the earth. The people flocked to him in crowds: men, women, children.

To stand in the presence of genuine holiness is to be made aware of how far we fall short of the mark but it is a calloused heart indeed that does not hunger after that righteousness for from it spring all the fruits of the Spirit. Without holiness we will not see heaven.

Now I'm as human as the next person. I have a filthy temper. I struggle to perform many of my daily duties because they bore me to tears & I really object to being bored; it is so unnecessary & there are far more interesting things to do. Left to my own devices I would wax fat on coffee, chocolate & thick books. God knows this about me even better than I do. The holiness mandate still stands. It is not optional.

A peculiar people, a royal priesthood, called out, set apart, A gift both from the Father to the Son & the Son to the Father [see John 17] ~ & why we desperately need to be people of the Spirit because only the Spirit can empower us to walk the Way of Holiness. We can no longer compromise with the world. We cannot have it both ways. It is time to choose & become once more salt & light in a world that knows not God.

7 comments:

Mom said...

Amen Sister! That's what I want. More light, less dark--more of Jesus, and less of me! Thank you for a though provoking post!

Gerry Snape said...

Oh ,it's just too much today another wonderful inspiring blog from a fellow blogger.i identify so much with the phrase, " a peculiar people", that's what I am and it's taken me a life time to even start to come to terms with what He has allowed me to be. today santo jude wrote of law and grace and I think that's what life is made up of , to be what He has required of us," to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly". Keep on the ancient paths!!

seekingmyLord said...

We may be attracted to holiness, but we are not so eager to surrender to it, not realizing that instead of taking some thing of any real worth from us, it only gives more of what is truly worthy to us and completes us. Still, the hardest part is the surrendering of self, even when we know that it means to be more of oneself.

Allison said...

James 1:27 has been banging around my head all week.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Pollution! Easy, everywhere, and just a wee bit fun. Holiness? Not so much. Amen to your call for personal holiness...there is far too much "I'm holy because I evangelize" out there.

Ganeida said...

Bonnie: Don't we all. ☺

Ember: Hm, you do some lovely posts of your own. ♥

Gerry: having suffered for my oddness all my life I always get a tad worried when I put up these sort of posts. What the Lord places on my heart & how others understand that are not always the same thing. I appreciate your enthusiasim.

Seeking: Now ain't that the truth...

Allison: I am so with you, sister. Evangilizing does *not* = holiness. Our churches are full of those who have not been born again, do not have the new life within them & have no personal relationship with Christ. It is terrifying & sad. We are enjoined to pull the plank out of our own eye before we go fossicking in someone else's after a splinter!

Amanda said...

I agree with you Ganeida... you were bold to post such Truth. Many are afraid to tread these waters on their blogs.

"Without holiness we will not see heaven". Amen! I do not believe that grace is all we need in the sense that we are without responsibility in this Walk. We must learn to put the flesh to death, to die to self... He will empower us, but we must be willing to surrender and yield. He will not take from us, our carnal fleshly nature, unless we freely and willingly offer it over to Him.

Holiness... a word that is so often glossed over in the modern day church.

I loved this post. Thank you for sharing...

Ganeida said...

Amanda: I love visitors who share their thoughts by commenting, Thank you. You are right. Irresponsibility is for babies. We are enjoined to grow up & mature in the Faith. Maturity entails responsibility. While I do not think one can lose their salvation through irresponsibility I do think they can lose their heavenly reward. All my regular readers know I'm a little odd & graciously accept my pecularities. ☺

It has been on my heart for the greed of the churches is a direct result of a lack of holiness on the part of the people ~ & those sorts of comments really are likely to get me into trouble! ☺