Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


10.16.2004  

Stewing Stuff

Lately I've been thinking about some things quite a bit, things that have seemed to stew in my head for a while, but I haven't actually remembered to type them out during the moments I've had in front of a computer. They've been things I've been trying to work through and grow in, so a lot of my thoughts and feelings on these things are still pretty raw and immature as of yet. Then again, isn't that always the case? :)



Holiness. Particularly, holiness being a source of joy for us. It's so strange to me that God's holy, holy, holy nature should be that which would bring us joy, yet it is! Why is that? First, a definition of holiness is in order. "Completely other than; utterly unique and infinitely worthy of infinite glory; set apart." Those words fall short, but they'll give us something to work with, some frame of reference that will hopefully not limit the sights which we see of God's holiness, but rather give a sense of the grander vistas yet unseeable to our crippled, sin-burned, ever so limited capacities to see and savor Jesus, through whom we have been brought to know our Lord.



That being said, the Lord's holiness was a cause for deep reverence. If such reverence were broken, death followed. We see this in 2 Samuel 6 when Uzzah reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant, that which represented the presence of the Holy One of Israel. He forgot that this was the presence of the Lord, and that to touch it without the right to was a heinous crime that brought down God's immediate vengeance and wrath. A little extreme, right? Hardly. We who take the Lord's holiness so lightly would be wise to pay more attention to the fact that this Holy One is the same who commands us to "be holy, for I am holy." What was Isaiah's immediate response to the mere presence of the Almighty? "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isaiah said he was ruined. Ruined! This was a man who became utterly undone, utterly desperate and hopeless, for he saw the glory of the Lord and realized that he could never live in such a way as to honor that glory.



That brings us to the next point. God's command to his people to be holy is not one that is given in vain. The hopelessness which Isaiah displays would do us well in our daily dying to ourselves, in our daily taking up of our crosses and our daily boasting only in the cross of Christ. Why? Because it is precisely this terrible failure to honor Him who is worthy of all glory with lives reverent and righteous according to that glory that makes such a command so sweet to bear in Christ. For in Christ, such a thing is possible! In Christ, we who were unworthy to glorify Him who is worthy of all glory are now made worthy to not only glorify Him in our lives (for we will glorify Him one way or another; He cannot give His glory to another), but that worthiness is found in the form of enjoying Him! That is the undeniable breathtaking beauty of the gospel, that we who fall so short of God's glory are now made sons and daughters of God, heirs together with Christ, who shall forevermore behold the glorious face of the Son shining more brilliant than any sun ever could, with an ever-growing capacity to enjoy that which was once horrific to us, and is now far too bright to gaze at for very long. Indeed, the very command to "be holy, for I am holy" is one that the Lord Himself undertakes to complete, as in Christ we are presented before Him "holy and blameless and beyond reproach." Christ did this work upon the cross "for the joy set before Him." Is it not a joy to Him that His bride should be pure, spotless and without blemish? Should it not be a joy to us as well? I would think that the very things that bring the Lord pleasure should bring us pleasure :)



Empty hands. This is the other major thought that's been on my mind for the past several...oh, I don't know...whiles. Days, perhaps. I must come before the Lord with nothing, with hands empty. Why empty? It seems that so often, I come bringing an offering does not signify that the Lord Himself is the glorious spring from which flows the water I drink deeply of. No, it seems that in my pride, I forget who the Lord is: Creator, Maker, Lord, the One who upholds all things with His mighty hand. What does He need of me? Certainly, I should bring something to the Lord that will help him in His work, right?



What foolishness. The Lord does not need me. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appoibnted times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His children.' " No, the Lord does not need me. He is not any lesser for not having me help Him! He is not any less glorious for not having me share His gospel! He is not! But He does desire me, and He does delight in using me as His instrument to spread the good news of His Kingdom.



Therefore, I must come with empty hands, knowing that it is Christ's work that I bring, Christ's work that I rest in, Christ's work that I look to. It is Christ's blood who pleads for me, Christ's intercession that is at work for me, Christ's cross that I sit beneath. The Lord owes me nothing, and under His cross, all who are called are counted righteous in Christ. Why, then, would I desire to bring anything to the Lord, as if I could add to His work upon the cross? What foolishness!



posted by Bolo | 9:14 AM
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