Holiness: a god or a lifestyle?

When you ask God for wisdom, He will give it to you with the stipulation that you use it (James chapter one). We like to picture wisdom being a fluffy gift that descends from the Heavens, places a crown upon our brow, and prospers us further in the direction we are already traveling but most of the time real wisdom is better depicted in a man being ripped off of his comfy sofa by the fire and thrown into a place he has never ventured before. It’s growth, though. It’s real living. It’s taking the hand of the Father and walking into the light others have rejected.

I was born and raised in Independent Fundamental Baptist churches. Over the course of my less than thirty year life I’ve been a church member under six different pastors whose styles and flavors were as different as a bag of skittles. I’ve spent the last four years of my life assisting in camp meetings, revivals and evangelistic outreaches in countless more likeminded, fundamental churches and I’ve seen all the ups and downs God could trust me with. My burden is for revival and my mind has exhausted itself analyzing what God has let me see. The past few months have pulled me off of that proverbial sofa and drew me to many of the answers I have been seeking for the last four years but, as I said, wisdom, real wisdom, doesn’t promote comfort: it demands change! My idea of revival has always been everyone else changing and me continuing in the direction I have always gone but if I’ve learned one thing at all it is that revival is personal: if God can’t convince me to change how will He ever use me to bring change to others? No, He wants to break ME, mold ME, make ME and then allow me to encourage everyone else after I have already been ran through the mill. That’s where the pain of revival is at. The burden for others is heavy but the revelations I’ve been handed about my own self have been overwhelming.

Pride is the issue, I’ve outlined that in more than one of my previous post but pride is a weed just like any other sin: it needs fertilizer and water to grow and an unconcerned gardener to leave it alone. I’ve been confused because, in fundamentalism, everything about our pride can be traced back to our standards and convictions. Confusing, right? Yes, the very things that we feel promote holiness and liberty are fertilizing our pride weed. I’ve traced it back to motives being wrong but that answer isn’t good enough. There is a better one.

We are missing two more pieces to our spiritual make up: principles and preferences. Without principles and preferences we cannot balance standards and convictions. Watch this…

Principle: I Timothy 2:9a “in like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel…”

This is a principle of the word of God that no man can deny. Ok, lets move down the ladder.

Conviction: I personally believe the Bible wants women to dress modestly.

A conviction is a personal opinion based on a biblical principle.

Standard: My wife and daughter are going to dress modestly

A standard is wall of safety the Christian builds to ensure that he lives by the biblical principle.

Preference: I believe long dresses and skirts are the most modest choice for my wife and daughter so they do not wear thigh bearing shorts, pants or anything of that nature.

A preference is the nuts and bolt route of how we accomplish living out the biblical principles God has given us.

Ok, here is the problem. There is nothing wrong with preferences; they are the romantic side of our relationship with Jesus and are the valuable pearls we hold so dearly in our personal walk. However, when we move our preferences into the biblical principle slot we are actually re-writing scripture or pretending to have a new revelation from God as Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, did. Since others who study scripture struggle reaching those same conclusions we perceive ourselves to be advanced and elite creating a fertile plot for all the pride we could ever afford to grow. We then look at Christians outside our circles and critique their faith and sincerity because we actually believe them to be going against principle when actually they just don’t match our preference. Everything we believe needs to be ran through this equation so we can see clearly our standings and motives.

When preference is preached as principle lives are damaged because shadows are stirred into the Bible, absolute truth is lost and private interpretation is pushed. Young Christians live tirelessly to the point of frustration trying to keep up with it all but since they never discover these “truths” in their own studies and prayer times they wind up disappointing their mentors and living defeated, guilt laden lives. Rather than reaching a romantic place with Christ where they begin to go above and beyond for His glory they are attempting to carry chains another man has forged and defeat is always the result.

In the big picture, preaching preferences as principles robs us of our voice to all of society. Culture isn’t as dumb as we like to believe and when they see us re-writing scripture and enforcing our new texts they label us a cult. Fundamentalism didn’t have a reputation for being “legalistic” and “Pharisaical” a hundred years ago, as a matter of fact, fundamentalism was one of the primary voices God used in this country a hundred years ago. What has changed? We like to believe that we are so holy that persecution has robbed us of our influence but actually idolatry has. That’s right, when we preach preference as principle we are hand carving idols that we are willing to sacrifice to. We will throw family away, brethren away, fellowship away, unity away, love away and many other things that God loves for the sake of serving our new gods. These idols provide us with self gratification and even favor with men and our flesh loves those things….all the while we move further and further away from principle.

I’m not interested in compromising my preferences.  I’m conservative, more so than most. I’m going to practice AND promote those preferences but if I crack them up to BEING biblical principle instead of personal preferences that I use as a MEANS of living out biblical principle I am going to damage the cause of Christ. How do I know? Because I spent years doing it and am in the pit I dug right now with my waders on and a good shovel in my hand desperately trying to repair the damage I arrogantly caused. Being honest with yourself will likely be the most terrifying thing you’ve ever done but it’s time. Cut down the groves and tear down the idols! We need revival. Won’t you go with me?