03/11/2018
How pure is your life? Are you cleansed and holy, or still allowing something to tarnish your relationship with God? Is His will paramount in your life, or are you still the center of your universe? Where are you in the process of holiness? Perhaps you think you are basically doing well and that your faith is flourishing, and yet things keep popping up in your day to day life that cause you to stumble. So you repent, ask forgiveness, and begin again. You are not alone in your labor.
“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”
2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV
One of the biggest stumbling blocks in our life is to trip and fall over the same situation or thing in our lives time and again, and although we realize it, pray for forgiveness, and begin our walk anew, we never clear the field.
I come from a long line of farmers; by the time I was a child the fields of my grandfather’s farm had been cleared for planting, but my mother would tell me stories of her father cutting trees by hand, pulling stumps with a team of mules, and about the entire family removing rocks from what I now saw as perfectly plowed fields filled with thriving crops.
You have probably driven down a country lane and seen beautiful stone walls lining the road, and a lush pasture or field of crops on the far side. Those walls of rock were once obstacles that existed in that farmer’s field. The beautiful walls you saw were built as he removed them one at a time, and stacked them at the periphery of the field to get some utility out of his hard labor. They are testament to a lifetime of perfecting, purifying, his land, and making it ready for the grasses, crops, or vines that would nourish him, his family, and others.
Our life is a lot like my grandfather’s field, we must remove every tree, bush, weed, and rock, before our field of faith is ready to bear fruit in abundance, and each one must be removed by hand. We begin with the big things and keep working until at last we are searching for the smallest of things to remove. This takes a lifetime, but as we work steadily at pulling up the stumps, burning them, and piling the rocks into walls alongside our fields, our harvest will grow. If we allow these things to remain then our field will never produce as it should. If we trip over an obstacle we should remove it so that it won’t be a constant encumbrance to our walk towards holiness... this is the process of our purification, and it requires constant attention.
I was reading Andrew Murray this morning and he had compiled a list of the work that lies ahead of us as we perfect our fields of faith. Let’s read what he had to say:
“In relation to God, it manifests itself in idolatry, whether it is in the worship of other gods, the love of the world, or doing our will rather than His will. In relation to others, it shows itself in envy, hatred, a lack of love, cold neglect, or harsh judgement. In relation to ourselves, it is seen as pride, selfish ambition, and the disposition that makes self the center around which all must move and by which all must be judged.” - Andrew Murray
Earlier I referred to this journey towards holiness as a process and it certainly is, every day we go to the fields, and when we stumble, or hit something with our plow blade, we must stop and dig it out... remove it. We have the Word of God to show us what should remain and what should go, we have Jesus to lead the effort, and instead of a team of mules, we have the Holy Spirit to do the heavy work. Our labor and determination to worship God is our offering, and the sweat of our brow the oil that anoints the altar. Then on the seventh day we rest and look back at our progress and thank God for it. This is how we become holy... one tree, one rock, and finally, one tiny weed at a time. Then we thank God for each day.
“and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.”
Exodus 29:36-37 ESV
When I was a child on my grandfather’s farm I ate of its bounty, each meal was proceeded with prayer, and every Sunday began with worship, prayer, and thanksgiving. I was being led to holiness by touching my grandparent’s altar... one they had carefully constructed for this purpose. Are you constructing an altar? Are you clearing your fields?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for giving me the strength each day to go into the fields of my life, and to perfect them as I become more like your Son Jesus Christ. I thank you for every rock and stone I remove from them, and for the altar I carefully construct from those You find acceptable. Holy Father, I ask that you receive my offering, and that the oil of my brow be pleasing to you. In your field I grow weary, but you strengthen me. In your field my muscles ache and are sore, but you soothe me. In your field I hunger, and thirst, but you feed me and give me cool water. At the end of each day I am exhausted and tired Lord, but you give me rest, and rejuvenate me. In all these things I offer you thanks, and worship you, and when a new day breaks I will reenter the field of my faith once more, and continue to serve you with a song on my lips. You are Great, and greatly to be praised! Help me Father in my perfection, and make me Holy as Jesus is Holy. Let me touch the altar Father, and find holiness in your presence there. Holy, Holy, Holy are you, and in you I am perfected, sanctified, and made Holy.
Rich Forbes