The Hole in Our Holiness - Week 6

Well, if I wasn’t late on getting the recap posted a couple of weeks ago, I’m definitely late this week.  After getting hit by “Snowmaggedon” (and consequently being stuck in a hotel for a couple of days without my notebook), I didn’t really get around to posting the recap until today.  Sorry about that fail on my part.  As it’s been almost a week since we studied this chapter, I’ll try to recap it as best as I can.  We’ll see how it goes.  Ok, ready?  Take a deep breath in and out.  In and out.  In and out.

First of all, props to TT because he weekly comes in with something that he learned in his quiet times with God that week and it corresponds back to what he’s been learning and has been challenged by in the reading of the book.  His point this week was during his time in 1 Thessalonians, he’s been convicted by the questions of “Are we holy enough?” and “Do we trust enough?”  We need to continue to be growing and need to keep working on it.  We also see how we can question what needs to happen in our lives in order to examine our own lives and ourselves more.  

The first part of our discussion this week based around the concept of why we tend to resist the movement of the Spirit in our lives.  We discovered that our major reason for ignoring or resisting the Spirit is because we are in sin.  The Spirit exists to reveal sin in our lives, reveal truth, and reveal God’s glory.  Hence, whenever we sin, we are ignoring the Spirit.  We need to ask ourselves if we enjoy that temporary sin more than our fellowship with God.  We need to be gracious of the Gospel that God has provided us with and that should imbed us with a desire to be more Holy.  Only through that communion with the Holy Spirit can we be strengthened and realize that we can pursue holiness.  Also, when we’re accepting the Spirit, we’re reminding ourselves of who we are in Christ.  All relationships take work to keep from wilting.  If we’re not in prayer or in the Word, then our walk and our love for Christ could decline.  Through that time in the Word, we can continue to grow and develop.  As Chase said, we can definitely take on Godly traits through a type of Osmosis from being in the Word.  

We also discussed how the concept of “Let Go and Let God” has a strong appeal.  The major reason is because it’s just the easier approach.  That means that we’re not exerting ourselves or taking the necessary steps for growth.  We’re more likely just being content where we’re at in our faith and think that God’s got every covered.  This is a detriment to our faith though.  We need to continue pushing ourselves and exerting ourselves in order to properly grow and stretch ourselves.  At least, that was the thought that we all shared.

Verses discussed during study this week include:

• ·         1 John 2:17
• ·         Jeremiah 29:11
• ·         Isaiah 26:3
• ·         Isaiah 60:22
• ·         Galatians 2:20
• ·         Romans 3:28
• ·         1 Corinithians 1:18 – 21
• ·         Galatians 5:24

And now for our moment of reflection...

The Hole in our Holiness - Week 5

Week 5 is in the books and we’re halfway done with our journey through The Hole in our Holiness.  We all seemed to have learned similar things during our time in the Word over the past week.  It’s kind of wicked sweet sometimes how God works like that.  One of the biggest focuses of the week was how to show grace in our lives to the people we come in contact with.  This could involve such things as cutting unholy talk out of our lives or how we interact with people in our workplace.  It’s pretty much easier to be negative than positive sometimes but we need to take steps in grow in that fashion.  As Paul writes to the Ephesians, we need to live as children of light through any means necessary.  Woot!  Well, now that we’ve discussed our personal learnings for the week in full, it’s time to move on to the libro.

The biggest topic of the week revolved around ways in which our pursuit of personal holiness can be slowed.  The two most prevalent issues discussed were through societal expectations and by time-management.  Ironically, I seem to have issues with both of these in my life and was all about learning that others struggled with the same things.  Not because it made me look better (How’s that possible?), but  because it was an encouragement, as well as an accountability tool.  It’s hard to live with a desire to please.  Those feelings can at times stand in the way of our pursuit of God because we’ll create those idols in our lives that we need to please.  In spite of our desire to please, we also need to make certain that’s not standing in the way of God in our lives.  Time-management can also be an issue.  It’s been said before that wherever/whatever we do with our time will show where exactly our heart lies.  For example, I love to play video games.  That’s how I wind down at night and get ready for bed and everything.  I especially love questing to get all the trophies that I can.  At times, I can find myself a little obsessed and focused on just obtaining “1 more trophy.”  Not a good thing.  If I applied those fundamentals to my walk, how much would I grow?  

From there, we began to discuss if our sin stands in the way of our attempts to be holy.  The answer is that it definitely can if we allow it to.  Make sense?  No?  That’s what I thought.  We can’t focus on our sin to the point where we have no desire to try to be holy anymore.  We also discussed the gradiation of sin.  That is, are some sins worse than others or not?  Regardless of how our sins affect us in our life, we can’t find ourselves getting discouraged by those sin issues.  Just as a parent wouldn’t get disappointed in their child cleaning the garage wrong and putting things back in the wrong place, God’s not going to be disappointed by our attempts to be holy.  He may not be fully satisfied, but he’ll be pleased by our attempts.  It’s like taking a trip to Yogurtini and finding that we only have enough money in our pocket for a small.  We begrudgingly get our small despite it not being fully what we wanted.  Even though we may not be 100% satisfied, we’re still going to be pleased that we got some fantastic yogurt (ideally with a cherry on top).  Look no further than David to see someone who screwed up epically, but God still loved Him and was pleased by Him.

Some additional thoughts to remember for this week are as follows:

• ·         It’s easier to convict people than to encourage and that’s not good or Godly.
• ·         There’s a balance in our attempts to be Holy (a happy medium).  While we’re still worldly, we can make strides to please God with our lives.
• ·         Pay attention to how we are being faithful to God.
• ·         Don’t let your faults get you down.  Find comfort in the ways that you are honoring God with your life.
• ·         Chase disclosed that he apparently has a cube for a heart.

And now for your moment of reflection…

The Hole in Our Holiness - Week 4

For this week’s recap of Study, I am assigning myself a ‘F’.  I kind of failed to blog either Tuesday evening or Wednesday evening so now I find myself writing on Thursday night at 10:19 pm.   Sorry about that.  **sheepish grin**  

We started off like always with some discussion of things we learned this week via Aussie Rules.  A discussion about how to delight and invest in the Word ensued.  Also, we questioned what does quality time with God really, truly mean.  The Lord alerts us to Him and wants to have communion with us.  It’s through this time that we learn that God can use anyone that He wants.  Just like Moses, we can sometimes doubt that we’re the right person for the job but God will use us if it is His will.  

The first discussion of the week over The Hole in Our Holiness centered around whether or not we believe that the Law of the Lord is to be delighted in.  To answer that, we have to question why God gave us to the Law.   The truth is that God doesn’t just go about tossing out commands right and left like a Mayor in a convertible during a parade tossing out candy.  Every command that the Lord issues has a purpose and it is because He loves us.  It is through the Law that we are able to create a relationship with God.  Christ lived the Law out perfectly in a way that we never could.  It’s through our inability to perfectly live up to the Law that Christ’s sacrifice became necessary and therefore God shows His love. 

From there, we began discussing Kevin’s massive list detailing ways that the Bible encourages holiness.  While the list could be overwhelming at first glance, it was also encouraging as a whole to the group.  What was interesting about the list is that it encompassed things that we’d heard previously as well as motivations for holiness that are seldom heard.  For example, when we view the bad examples of others, it can encourage us to act in a different fashion.  Also, we questioned whether or not it is selfish to be motivated for holiness purely to gain eternal reward.  There is nothing wrong with desiring an eternal reward, but it should not necessarily be our sole purpose in following Christ.

**side note**  For some strange reason I wrote in my journal this week that we should buy cookies and donuts for study.  I’m sure that there’s a story there, but I don’t remember.  Please remind me why this matters.

Scripture discussed this week:

• ·         Deuteronomy 32:46 – 47
• ·         Hebrews 2:18
• ·         James 2:19

Sorry again to all two of my readers for being late in posting this.  I promise to do better next week.  :)

And now for your weekly moment of Reflection!