"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." I Timothy 2:3-4 NKJV
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification... I Thessalonians 4:3a NKJV "It is God’s will for you to be holy..." 1 Thessalonians 4:3a NLT
When it comes to The Doctrine of Holiness, i realize, even rejoice in the reality that i am more of a practitioner of holiness than a theologian. Still i have some thoughts, maybe more like a testimony, about our inheritance as Jesus-believers, yes, to be saved and sanctified. That is, to be pardoned for our acts of sinning and to be purified of the attitude of Sin itself. We can be forgiven of our deeds of sinning and delivered from our dispositions of Sin -- our carnal, self-centered egos. It’s Good News to my never-dying soul.
On my first day of class for "The Doctrine of Holiness" in 1993, at Nazarene Bible College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, our professor, Dr. Charles Baldwin, gave each student the gift of a light blue, writing pen. Embossed in gold letters on the pen were these words: "Jesus Saved You So He Could Sanctify You!" The words are written wonderfully in my mind to this day. Brother Baldwin would go on in that quarter of classwork to explain Biblical Holiness as well as it can be explained. It’s really too great to fully comprehend. I like to say: "The Best definition of Holiness is Jesus Himself."
Today, even this week, i have been swimming in the wonder-filled writings on holiness by Oswald Chambers. It’s been some deep and delightful water to swim in. And as a result of all this sanctified saturation, i have written down a few thoughts of my own, a testimony, as i said earlier. I share them with you now, not for debate but just to be a witness.
Total surrender -- of my right to my own life to God -- is my part in the sanctification crisis that allows the Holy Spirit to purify my motives by faith. Then continued surrender and trust becomes a sanctification lifestyle permitting the Holy Spirit to form completely within me the mind of Christ as i journey towards the grand goal of glorification -- seeing and being with Christ, Himself. This is Scriptural Holiness to me.
My humble, yet desperate prayer of initial and ongoing surrender: Lord, eradicate within me any impurity that would threaten to dominate or validate the disposition i was born with. Let Your holy presence be my only essence. In the Name of Jesus, my Savior and Sanctifier, Amen.
Side-bar: Theologians who don’t prefer the word "eradicate" usually do not know what the framers of the holiness doctrine, mostly farmers, understood about the word. It’s a farming term that means, yes, a one-time cleansing of the soil followed by an on-going cleansing of the soil. I love explaining that. (i am a debtor to the elderly statesman, Dr. Floyd Perkins, my Bible College Theologian, who grew up as a farmer’s son in the Dakotas and knew what the framers meant by the doctrinal language, especially "eradication.")
With all of that said, "Holiness is Christ in me!"
HERE! Presence Matters Most!
No Invisible People! UNITY!
Pastor Kerry Willis
