So tonight, as I went through the rounds and struggled to cut the hair of these 3 boys who were fighting me all the way, Larry Crabb's 66 Love Letters audio book (which is basically written as a conversation between God and Larry as he struggles through the Bible chapter by chapter) blaring in the background, there was a break in the fussing just long enough for me to hear these words:
"...You're in danger of losing your center as Solomon lost his. When that happens, things spin out of control."
Well needless to say, it caught my attention and I had to listen to the rest of the chapter on 1 Kings. So now I'm trying to tune my ear to what 'God' is saying while I shuffle the kids out of the kitchen...
" Your desire to be effective, to depend on biblical principles for success in your family, church, career, and friendships, it's legitimately strong. But when that desire is stronger than your desire to be holy, and to depend on my power for becoming more like my Son, whether you succeed or fail in other ways, then you will not advance my plan--no matter how carefully you follow my principles, or how much apparent success you enjoy. And, you'll be especially vulnerable to serious sin."
'God' went on to describe Solomon as someone whose desire to be an effective leader according to God's principles (which itself was commendable) was stronger than his desire to be holy. He says,
"when efficient management trumps holy living, and especially when you're good at it, the lack of holiness is either not recognized or is not seen as a terribly serious problem. Compromise, including using illegitimate pleasure to relieve stress, feels warranted. People with little concern for holiness often manage their families well. They sometimes leave prospering ministries and many are successful in their careers. But the center of my plan has nothing to do with well-managed families, ministries, or careers. When the center of my plan is not the center of your hope, your interior world is unstable and your soul is weakened."
So holiness can really be characterized by a steadfast preoccupation with God: finding our ultimate, substantive satisfaction, our purpose, and our delight in God and His plan. Our behaviour, or "deeds," then flow from that relationship. Unless our main focus is on growing into a deeper relationship with Christ, our "good deeds" are not the outworking of holiness.
When we're preoccupied with leading effective ministries, being purposeful and fruitful, being moral, or any other preoccupation that we could get caught up in, we grow hardened to God and thus descend into the slippery slope of sin. We will always make compromises to gain that which we primarily strive to gain. If we are not primarily striving to gain God Himself, we are compromising holiness since holiness, in essence, is union with God.
You may see it as kinda random,(random is the way my funny little mind works,) but when I heard this I was reminded of what Francis Chan said at the VERGE10 conference:
"If you love your mission more than you love Christ, Christ will have no part of your mission."
But I have never, up until this point, related this concept to holiness. I guess our chief mission--the Mission of all missions--has to be to gain Jesus Christ. Is to go after His heart. To know Him more. Kind of like David,
"the man after God's own heart." Not only to find salvation in Him once, but to continue to grow in that salvation. It is only then that we can truly serve others in missions or be useful to God.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." ~Mt 6:33
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