Holiness: A Transforming Journey
It has been long Winter… Spring is just around the bend!
Hey There!! Welcome back… Don’t know about you, but I am so ready for Spring; so we can hit the road! “Where are we going”, you ask? Not sure, but I am itching to get started.
I was pondering this the other day in regard to our new Journey with God. It is important to understand, as we begin our journey, how we personally connect with God: the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. I understand this has been a mystery for many, including myself. But we will find that as we read and ponder God’s Word from cover to cover, things become much clearer.
When we come to the place where we begin our journey to seek God for our lives, God’s faithful Love is already in play, and it is the Holy Spirit that woos and convicts us of our sin and rebellion towards God; just as it was in the Garden. We are separated from God due to His Holiness and our sin. But, because of His continual deep abiding love for all of Mankind, the Father conceived a gracious plan to provide a deliverer to redeem us back to Himself. Our Holy and Perfect Heavenly Father, rescued and redeemed us by His only begotten Son (born of the virgin Mary, by the Holy Spirit) so that Jesus, would be our Emmanuel. God With Us. The Holy One of God, born into our physical human world to be the Kinsman Redeemer for all the World…. Let that sink in a minute, if you will…. The man, Jesus, came to reflect the Father’s Heart and Kingdom by establishing a New Covenant: Redeeming the whole World through His Death Burial and Resurrection! Because of Christ, we are now re-grafted back to the eternal fellowship with God, that was destroyed by the Fall in the Garden.
God created the whole world and everything in it, and the heavens beyond it. He created all the living creatures that crawl, swim fly around the Earth, all the Vegetation, then He created the apex of His creation in Man. “Let Us make man in our Image”, God said. Then God created Adam from the dust of the Earth, for care-taking / managing God’s amazing Creation. God noticed it was not good for Man to be alone, so He created Woman from one of Adam’s Ribs. Male and Female He created them….WOW!
God created Adam and Eve and their surroundings perfectly. He gave them parameters to live within and responsibilities to keep. God’s ultimate desire for Adam and Eve was an intimate relationship with Him, and with each other. That they would choose to Love, Honor, and Trust Him as their Creator Lord and King. But as we all know, God allowed for Satan to propose a much different “choice” to Adam and Eve. A proposal that sowed distrust and the “presumed” lies of their Creator. The Serpent was known for his subtle craftiness, and the proposal was enticing… they would not die, they would be like God! They could make their own choices and not bother God. It’s important to see that Eve and Adam didn’t see the harm in the Serpent’s subtle offer, much like we don’t. Yet, when acting apart from what we know, believe, and trust; the consequences of those actions were far more than Adam or Eve could have ever known or understood….as they (the consequences) are even today.
Next time we will look forward in our Journey of Holiness… What is Holiness? Doesn’t that mean perfection? What does it look like? Is this possible?? Yes!! It is the Heart of the matter. Blessings! Talk soon! ♥