The Daily Word of Righteousness

Iron, Fire, and Stern Obedience, continued

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: (I Corinthians 1:2—NIV)

"Called to be holy"!

Once we are called as a saint, all other callings we think we may have vanish into oblivion. To be a saint is the highest possible calling that can be placed on any human being.

To be a holy one of God means we are not free to behave like the world. God tells us to come out of the world, to not touch the uncleannesses in the world, and He then will receive us.

We are in the world but not of the world. What a tremendous challenge this doctrine presents!

The spirit of democracy, that all are equal, that all can aspire to any position they desire, is not of the Father but of the world. The Kingdom of God is not a democracy. The Kingdom of God is an authoritarian structure created by the God of Heaven. God has established the Lord Jesus Christ as King of the Kingdom. Our primary relationship to Christ is that of slave to master except as He chooses to call us higher.

The idea that we believers are slaves of Jesus Christ, while it assuredly is scriptural, is distasteful and disgusting to Americans. We are exceedingly proud. The spirit of the Revolution is in us and we reject the idea of being anyone's slave, of having a stern king telling us what we can do and cannot do.

Perhaps it is that very spirit of the Revolution that causes Americans to be willing to receive Jesus as Savior but not as absolute Lord of their lives. Do you suppose this could be the case?

Well, in this matter we are absolute fools! Jesus Christ is powerful enough to inhale the entire firmament and then blow it out again refreshed and renewed. Do you see we make fools of ourselves when we tell Him what we will do and will not do?

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalms 2:12—NIV)

Don't let the gentleness of Jesus fool you. He can afford to be gentle. He can crush nations if He chooses.

We Christians are called to be holy ones. This means we are closer to God than those who are not called to be holy ones. We are called to present our bodies a living sacrifice to the Father. We are called to come out of the world, to continually lift holy hands in praise to God.

We are a holy firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, a firstfruits of the nations of the earth. We are the Seed through whom the nations will be blessed.

God is a Fire. He is a consuming Fire. We have been called to live in that Fire with the Lord Jesus.

To be continued.