Three Legged Stool of Holiness
Here is an idea I have been working on for awhile, and I am not sure I am finished with it yet. I was thinking that holiness is somewhat like a three-legged stool. The three legs would be doctrine, experience, and lifestyle. I believe that holiness must first start as a doctrine. One cannot experience God without first having the right concept of God. For instance if we believe God is a hard taskmaster, then we will experience Him as a taskmaster, even if He really is trying to show us otherwise. It is vital in any Christian experience to have a right conception of God. The same is true about holiness. When people believe in holiness as God has taught it in the Bible, then they can experience God correctly. Our experience of an encounter with the holiness of God, then changes everything about us, or our lifestyle. It is foolish to think that an encounter with the holiness of God does not change us in the way we live at all. We might me able to meet the President of the United States, and it not really effect the way we live, but not so with God. C.S. Lewis said something like we go to God like we go to the dentist. We just want a tooth pulled to alleviate the pain, when God want us to do surgery. Often we want God to fix some hurt, when He is asking to do major open heart surgery. Specifically Lewis said, "If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell." These three element must always come in this order, or holiness is not effective. I did not mean a person must have a theological degree to experience holiness, but they do have to understand what God wants and who God is. And certainly a lifestyle of holiness with out the holiness of God indwelling is mockery and only our own righteousness. Not only do these three elements have to be in order, but they have to all be there, or we will be as useless as a three-legged stool.
10:39 AM
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