As I studied the subject of holiness, I realized that it must be present in absolutely every area of my life and, at the same time, bear a pure and joyful witness about my God to the world around me. The Lord desires to be glorified in my life, and He longs for that glorification to be faithful and complete.
There is much I do not know how to do, and there are many things I do not understand correctly. There are areas of life in which I am no expert at all. But when I understand that God expects something special from me while offering to teach me everything I need to know, I become responsible for accepting or rejecting the opportunities He gives me.
Knowing the peculiarities of human thinking, the Lord treats us very gently and patiently when He offers us something.
It is very important for me not to forget the path along which the Lord has led me. I need to remember how He taught me and fed me with Heavenly Bread, how He carried me in His arms when I fell and could go no farther, how tenderly He reproved me, and with what love He disciplined me. Jesus poured all His love into me to help me rise above the vanity of this world and acquire the mind of a righteous person.
The Lord expects holiness from me in my personal dedication of every area of my life to Him, and therefore He sends an abundance of His light through the windows of my soul. To keep them clean, He offers me eyesalve from Him that washes every trace of dirt from the windows of the soul in my little house of happiness and protects me from alien light and from uninvited visitors who do not wish to enter through the door.
I once noticed a very unpleasant trait in myself, one that I am ashamed to speak about. When the Lord sent me His light and revealed His will in that light, I began applying the truths I received to my neighbors or to the members of my church. I even became great in my own eyes when I saw how far my friends fell short of God's standards, and I always hurried to tell them about it. I wondered why they became upset with me and then avoided spending time with me. If I could not find a particular person who fit God's criteria, I would invent one in my mind and might even speak publicly about certain believers who did not live as the Bible teaches and yet still called themselves Christians. Against the backdrop of such people, of course, I was very holy in my own eyes. I was bursting with this kind of holiness and was ready to denounce everyone and everything around me. The saddest part was that I had support in this ministry. I was especially popular among those who possessed the same critical spirit and regarded it as an important gift from God.
I did not invent support for my ambitions out of thin air; I had what seemed to me a solid Biblical foundation. I read the appeal in Isaiah 58:1: ‘Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.’ I understood it literally, so I began searching for those sins in other people's lives in order to point out their transgressions to believers. I am not the only one who has fallen into this trap of self-righteousness. Unfortunately, many people today are engaged in this work or support those who dare to behave this way openly.
But this is not the holiness the Lord wants to see in me. When He sends me light, He wants to persuade me to reconsider my own life, look into my heart, weigh my motives, examine my words and actions, and draw conclusions. When I set out on this path of self-examination, I begin to see what a wretched person I am, for I do what I should not do, and my motives are not always right. Sadly, however, I try to deceive God by justifying myself. I want to convince Him that I am not so bad and that everything within me is clean, while my entire soul, in all its impurity and sinfulness, lies open before Him as if in the palm of His hand. What can God do with such a person? He cannot force me to repent or acknowledge my impurity, but He gently reveals these defects to my mind, desiring that I myself confess them to Him.
When I tell the Lord about my sins, I am not informing Him of something new or sorrowful that destroys our relationship; I am freeing my heart from this refuse. If some corrupt passion or fascination overcomes me, God sees it immediately, even before I recognize it, while my conscience may grow dull, become seared, or fall asleep. Yet I attach no importance to the sin and try to convince God that, compared with other people, I am not so bad after all.
For example, let us talk about health reform. Try publicly stating that you eat or drink something from which God asks us to abstain, and you will be surprised by how many quotations have been written on the subject. Some people will simply bury you under every imaginable excerpt from the works of inspired authors. If you do not repent, your public statement will be regarded as a public renunciation of the faith, and opponents will arise who begin saving the other church members from your harmful influence.
I will not say that someone in this situation is right or that someone is wrong, but this is what is now taking place among God's people. We are so occupied with the holiness of other people that we forget our own. I am not saying this about all of us. I am writing this about myself. I know this situation firsthand. I have stood on both sides of this barricade. But God calls us to build bridges, not walls, in our relationships.
It is impossible to escape this whirlpool by our own strength, and many become discouraged, leave their churches, and perish. Some grow weary of gossips and judges, while others are dissatisfied with being among fallen sinners. How can this dilemma be resolved?
Love very quickly teaches me an entirely different way of seeing and approaching things. It gives the most accurate answer to all my ambitions, questions, and claims. It reveals my heart to me and invites me to put it in order. Then love removes the beams from my eyes and teaches me how I may remove a speck from my friend's eye—or shows me that this is not the time to do so.
Love leads me to holiness in every matter. It does this very wisely and delicately. It waits and does not hurry me, yet it does not abandon its intended goal. If I choose another path, then, like a navigation system, it shows me the best possible routes and guides me toward my destination.
Eternity is the place every one of us should make certain to reach. Love is the most direct and immediate representative of Eternity. It teaches me eternal and righteous laws. It simply knows no other rules of life—only God's principles and standards. Yet it understands the sinner and gently teaches that person righteousness and purity.
Love never ceases to work in the hearts of those who have received it, accepted it, made it their own, and give it to others.
It restrains and destroys my ambitions, inviting me to reconsider my life and bring it into harmony with the standards of Eternal values.
Happiness is a conscious, purposeful life lived according to the rules of Heaven. I may decide to be happy while living in sin, and I may even succeed to some extent, but not for long, because such happiness will not bear the seal of God's approval. But my conformity to Heaven and my Heavenward direction will give God both the right and the desire to bless me as I grow in love.
Bible verses for this chapter:
1 John 3:11–18; Matthew 5:39–42; 7:1–5; Luke 6:37; John 7:24; 12:47–48; Romans 2:17–24; 14:12–13; 1 Corinthians 2:10–16; 4:1–5; 6:1–8; 1 Kings 3:8–14; Psalm 7:9; 82:2–3; 96:10–13; Ecclesiastes 3:17; James 4:7–12; 2 Peter 1:5–11