Spiritual Ponderings

Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, " You shall be holy, for I am holy ." (1 Peter 1:14-16) I am coming to see that holiness may best be described as passionate, focused devotion. God's holiness has largely been obscured by false ideas about holiness that have led us to view Him as severe, distant and unloving. Holiness has been asserted as the reason God killed Jesus on the cross, because, it is claimed, God's holiness will not allow Him to look on sin. Therefore, since Jesus took upon Himself our sins then God was forced to turn away from Him and/or even execute Him. Yet all of this is heresy invented by the father of lies as well as based on a wresting of Scripture. I am coming to see a number of new insights about the concept of holiness. Holiness is almost the exact opposite ...

Let me start with a few seed thoughts and then try to expand on them. Responsible living is fulfilling, empowering, satisfying, rewarding. Accountability is not the same as responsibility. Accountability happens at points in time, like check-ins, wake-up calls and are often associated with times of transition. Accountability is a reality check to see how responsibility has been handled. Jesus told Pilate that he could not have any authority unless it had been given him from above. Speaking of his authority was another way of saying he had a responsibility . Jesus was at that moment alerting Pilate that the way in which he would make decisions in that situation would reveal how personally responsible Pilate was willing to accept. Would he make decisions based on internal values and upright morals? Or would he allow outside influence and/or false ideas about his value to steer his decisions causing him to abuse his authority and avoid his responsibilit...