Left Field
Ever find yourself out there? Left field, left out, left behind? Just.......left?
Well, that's exactly the "right" place to be, according to the Word of God. 1 Peter 1:15 says "Be holy in all your conduct." It says ALL, it doesn't say only at church, or only at home, or only at work.
What if, after you die, people go through all your stuff; all your books, your DVDs, your daily planners, your emails, and your internet activity, what will they see? Will they see a life of purity? Holiness?
Left field, the place of holiness, is actually a place quite free from the burden and weight of sin. It's truly a "happy place". Hebrews 1:9 says "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."
People are supposed to be able to look at Christians and see what God is like. Are people drawn to be a Christian by the way you live your life, or are they turned off by your behavior? What about children and grandchildren, what will they mimic - holiness or worldliness?
The church is to be living out holiness, preparing to be the Bride for the Lord Jesus. Ephesians 5:27, "He might present the church to Himself in Splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, that she might be holy and without blemish." So, is my church in left field, set apart, holy, addressing sin; or is there right with the world tolerance, right in step with the worldly values, rightly blemished compromising, or even glaring blatant sin? What sin is too grievous to be in church? What sin so small that God won't notice?
Left field is a spacious place - a place where repentance can occur, because the world's traffic isn't parking there. Left field is an abiding place - not a place of struggling to be right. Left field is place of rest, not striving to become perfect. Left field is a place to look upon the Person of Holiness, and just be holy because He is Holy.
Well, that's exactly the "right" place to be, according to the Word of God. 1 Peter 1:15 says "Be holy in all your conduct." It says ALL, it doesn't say only at church, or only at home, or only at work.
What if, after you die, people go through all your stuff; all your books, your DVDs, your daily planners, your emails, and your internet activity, what will they see? Will they see a life of purity? Holiness?
Left field, the place of holiness, is actually a place quite free from the burden and weight of sin. It's truly a "happy place". Hebrews 1:9 says "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."
People are supposed to be able to look at Christians and see what God is like. Are people drawn to be a Christian by the way you live your life, or are they turned off by your behavior? What about children and grandchildren, what will they mimic - holiness or worldliness?
The church is to be living out holiness, preparing to be the Bride for the Lord Jesus. Ephesians 5:27, "He might present the church to Himself in Splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, that she might be holy and without blemish." So, is my church in left field, set apart, holy, addressing sin; or is there right with the world tolerance, right in step with the worldly values, rightly blemished compromising, or even glaring blatant sin? What sin is too grievous to be in church? What sin so small that God won't notice?
Left field is a spacious place - a place where repentance can occur, because the world's traffic isn't parking there. Left field is an abiding place - not a place of struggling to be right. Left field is place of rest, not striving to become perfect. Left field is a place to look upon the Person of Holiness, and just be holy because He is Holy.
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