Taken to the Woodshed

My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. - Proverbs 3:11-12 I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. -Psalm 101:3 Ouch! When I was a child, my parents didn't know a thing about time out, positive reinforcement, or behavior modification. They usually modified my behavior with a fly swatter applied to my behind. Worked pretty well, and was a pretty good deterrent for the same poor behavior later. And guess what......I still loved them anyway. I knew they loved me, and that was the reason for their correction. They wanted me to grow up and be a productive, polite citizen. A person that people could stand to be in the same room with. And, for the most part, it worked ( although some might disagree). Our Heavenly Father has the same desires for us. If our earthly parents love us, how much more does He care for us? He always wants what's best for us, and will do what it takes to get us there. Almost immediately after losing the post last week, I came to understand that discipline was exactly what was happening to me. Although I had recognized a pervasive sin earlier and had made steps to correct it, I didn't really understand the ramifications of that sin. Didn't realize what a 'big deal' it was. And I needed to learn that. The whole issue had to do with holiness. I have to be honest. I have never really fully understood the holiness of God. I know Him to be Counsellor, Protector, Friend, the Love of my life. But I never really "got it" in regard to His holiness. I did read the book "Holiness" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss a few years ago. I am planning to read it again ASAP . By the way, you can read excerpts of her book if you search in Google Books for that title. In it, she quotes A.W. Tozer defining holiness: "What does the word holiness really mean? Is it a negative kind of piety from which so many people have shied away from? No, of course not! Holiness in the Bible means moral wholeness - a positive quality which actually includes kindness, mercy, purity, moral blamelessness, and godliness. It is always to be thought of in a positive, white intensity of degree." This quote really explains the part of holiness that has been hard for me to understand. I think meany people are turned off by the word because of the 'piety' spoken of. We've all had experiences with pious people. Those who look down their noses at others who are a less developed spiritually. People who can't even be kind to others who don't "measure up" - let alone love them. Experiencing these people leads some of us to believe that holiness is a negative word. But, as Tozer says, it absolutely is not negative. There is nothing negative about kindness, mercy, purity, moral blamelessness and godliness. But the holiness of God goes even farther. The "white intensity" Tozer talks of is helping me understand God's holiness. The colors of heat range from orange,to yellow, then red, then white. White hot is very, very hot. So using that picture, the holiness of God is of such intensity it goes to a new level. I believe that is why we don't talk about it much. We don't fully understand it. It is beyond our ability to comprehend. We know people here on earth who are holy, but in reality they are only on the 'orange' level of holiness. God is infinitely more holy than any of us could ever be. That's why it's hard to understand. The only way I know how to explain what I learned in this experience is to tell you the entire truth about it. So here goes. On the morning I was to write my post, I had watched a television program that I had recorded. Although it is on prime time television, it was not something I should have ever been watching. I knew that in my heart, but I guess I thought I could "compartmentalize" my life. You know what I mean.....part time spiritual blogger, part time trash watcher. When I came in to write, nothing was going down right. God led me to make the correlation between the inability to write and the program I had watched that morning. I confessed my sin, changed the DVR so it would not record anymore and made the committment to be more careful about what I watched in the future. I wrote the post, and left it in the editing phase for a day to pray about it as I usually do. Here's where the experience gets difficult to explain. When I came back the next day to re-read, pray, and edit if necessary, the entire post was accidentally erased. I still don't know what key I hit to delete it. I was really distraught, because many hours go into each post. I knew I needed to pray. When I did so, God impressed upon me the reason that blog was gone. You see, in His holiness, God wanted no part of being represented by a piece of writing that was done right after partaking in something that was a complete offense to His holiness. Those two things just couldn't stand together. And obviously I needed to learn that. God was telling me, in a real and practical way, that I needed to take holiness seriously. He makes no apologies or exceptions for what He can accept. Unlike us, he does not try to live different lives depending on the circumstances. He always is and always has been the same. What offended Him thousands of years ago still offends Him today. What pleased Him then still pleases Him today. He's no different. It's we who are different. I'm going to spend some time here, re-visiting holiness. I want to learn more about how it applies to me and how it applies to God. I want to understand more fully what He expects of us as His children. I want to learn to be more consistent. I want to be on the same page as He is. I know I can't get to the 'white' level of holiness this side of heaven. But I want to be all I can be as I go through the rest of this life. Come with me. Let's take a look at this issue.....a hard look at what God wants and what we consider acceptable and unacceptable. Let's peel back the layers of our lives and see what's so embedded in our personalities we don't recognize it as sin anymore. Let's try to let Christ teach us what we need to know. After punishment comes contemplation. As my mom used to say after the fly swatter, I need to think about it. Believe me I will! See you next time.