Our Journey

Read 1 Peter 1:14-16 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:14-16

God has revealed to us a one-word description of the Christian life: Holiness. Peter explained it this way: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:14-15).

That word conduct means “in all you do, in your behavior.” Being holy means “being set apart.” It means different—not weird, bizarre, or obnoxious—but set apart. Peter said, don’t be squeezed into the pattern of the world the way you used to be when you lived in “ignorance.”

In your BC days (Before Christ), you didn’t know any better. You may have thought that illicit sexual experiences or addictive substances or selfish pursuits would make you happy, but now you know they’re like quicksand. Maybe you used to think that being a Christian would be restrictive and stale and stiff, but now you see that God’s laws are established for your good. He does not withhold something good that brings true pleasure. When God says, “don’t,” He means “don’t hurt yourself.” The standard of holiness is a protection of our happiness, given by a loving Father.

You’re a different person than you once were. You have different priorities, different passions, different pastimes, different practices. Your goals have changed. Your perspective has changed. You now want what God wants for you. You have heard the call to holiness, and because of God’s Spirit in you it’s what your heart hungers for.

“Be holy” actually means “be becoming holy.” It’s a process. Holiness is formed over a lifetime; it’s not like . . . poof—the moment you turn to Jesus, you’re the final thing. Holiness comes by trying and failing and trying again to live a life set apart from the world’s mold. Holiness takes root in your life as you get into God’s Word and with God’s people, surrendering your mind and your body to the life God has called you to.

Here’s the good news. It’s happening today. God is pouring His character into you with every decision you make to be like Him. —James MacDonald

responding How have my goals changed from last year’s? In what way have my thoughts changed? Am I becoming more holy?
following Holiness is a one word description of the Christian life.

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Read Jonah 1:15,17 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. . . . 17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Jonah 1:15,17

There is in each of our hearts a bent to wander spiritually. Sometimes God needs to break through, shake or wake us, and draw us back to Himself. The prophet Jonah could testify that God will go to any length to get our full, undivided attention.

Fugitive Jonah thought he could outrun God. He was so confident in his plan that he fell fast asleep aboard a ship heading in the opposite direction from God’s call. But God blew in a raging storm and the seamen knew
that Jonah was the reason, for he had said, “It is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you” (Jonah 1:12). You know what happened next. They pitched him overboard “and the sea ceased from its raging” (v.15).

God was after Jonah’s attention—and He got it! First the storm began raging and next “the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah” (v.17). God is never at a loss for ways to get our attention.

The word appointed demonstrates that God has a plan and a purpose for every person. He appoints the times and the seasons of your life. Although we’re certainly free to make choices, God, already knowing the choices that we would make, has appointed specific things to get our attention. So by God’s sovereignty, that fish swam to the water’s surface at the precise moment Jonah was thrown overboard and made the perfect catch!

In God’s plan, nothing was too radical to get Jonah’s attention. First gently, then aggressively, and always relentlessly, God wants your attention and He’s willing to do some pretty extreme things to get it. God would rather see you anywhere—in the hospital, in court, in some painful circumstance of life—than see you wandering from His will. He loves you that much.

Has God appointed some hard things in your life right now? Take a deeper look. Are you running from or running toward what you sense to be His will? Do you feel as if the waters are getting choppy? Are you beginning to wonder if you’re going to be tossed overboard? Has the Lord got your full, undivided attention? If not, He’ll have it very soon. —James MacDonald

responding What has God appointed for me to do in this season of my life? Am I running from God’s call? To what do I need to say “Yes, Lord”?
following God is willing to do anything to get your full, undivided attention.

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Read Luke 14:27,33 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. . . . 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27,33

The other day I heard an interesting discussion on television. There was a panel of men trying to define what makes a man a father. They were bantering back and forth, giving different insights, ideas, and sociological profiles of what a dad is. But I was impressed with this one man. He spoke up, “Just because you have children, that doesn’t make you a father.” Now notice what he said next: “Fatherhood demands involvement, relationship, commitment, and personal sacrifice.” I thought that was a pretty good descriptive definition of what it really means to be a disciple, a legitimate follower of Jesus.

There’s a difference between those of us who place our faith in Jesus and know Him as Savior and those who aggressively and intentionally follow Him as the Lord of their lives. Perhaps that is the problem with the church of Jesus today. We have a lot of cultural Christians, but I often wonder how many true disciples do we really have.

In Luke 14, Jesus talked about the test of discipleship, what it’s really all about. He underscored three characteristics that every true follower of His must demonstrate and maintain.

First, in verse 26, a follower of Jesus must be possessed by love. I don’t think Jesus was talking about a literal hate but rather a comparative love. We must love Jesus so deeply and intensely that by means of contrast and comparison the love that we have for all of these other valued relationships appears to be as hate. Second, a disciple is characterized by a deep
identification with the sufferings of Jesus, by bearing “his own cross” (v.27).

Third, in verse 33, a disciple is characterized by relinquishing all ownership and control of the things in this life. There’s a big difference in the mind of Jesus between those who mouth words and say they’re followers and those who are followers in their deeds.

Remember this: Just because a person is a believer, a Christian, does not necessarily make him a disciple. —Crawford W. Loritts

responding Have I surrendered my will to God? Lord, help me renounce myself and surrender to you completely. Am I willing to do whatever He says to do, to go wherever He says to go, and to be whatever He says to be?
following A true disciple is someone who does what Jesus says.

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Read Genesis 22:1-13 1 After these things God tested Abraham…. 2 He said, “Take your son, … , whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering.” … 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. Genesis 22:1-2, 12-13

We know that “Everyone to whom much [is] given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48), but we’ll step aside and allow another to be called faithful if this is the kind of sacrifice it takes. However, we can’t step aside very far. We have more in common with Abraham than we might think.

Our most profound tests involve those dearest to us. Each of us can vividly remember a time when God called us to surrender our hold over someone we love—perhaps even someone we nearly worship.

We also experience times when we believe we’ve received two seemingly opposite messages from God. Abraham understood God to say he would have more offspring than the number of stars in the sky. Then he received the command to sacrifice his only legitimate heir on the altar. As we trust God continually, we will eventually recognize that He is the reconciler of the utterly irreconcilable.

God didn’t mislead Abraham. He told him to sacrifice his son on the altar and Abraham did. He did not slay his son. Instead, he offered God a living sacrifice. Living sacrifices are not always easy to offer. Sometimes releasing our grip on the person who remains with us can be more painful than releasing our grip on the person taken from our reach. We must continually offer our precious ones to the One who loves them most.

God used Abraham and Isaac to teach others about Himself. The substitutionary offering of the ram caught by its horns in the thicket became one of the Bible’s key images to convey the gospel message. The shadow of the cross fell on Mount Moriah that day. We all have been tied to the altar of death and then presented a chance to be loosen for eternal life by the perfect Lamb, whose head was torn by thorns and was willing to take our place.

Our challenges may not be as dramatic as Abraham’s, but we too can allow our lives to become visual aids through which God teaches others about Himself—and His faithful ways. —Beth Moore

responding Have I ever received two seemingly opposite messages from God? Do I believe God can reconcile the irreconcilable?
following We must trust God when He calls us to sacrifice.

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Read Luke 9:57-58 57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Luke 9:57-58

Our Lord’s attitude toward this man was one of severe discouragement, “for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:25). We would have said, “I can’t imagine why he lost the opportunity of winning that man! Imagine being so cold to him and turning him away so discouraged!”

Never apologize for your Lord. The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to be hurt or offended. Jesus had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God.

Our Lord’s answers were not based on some whim or impulsive thought, but on the knowledge of “what was in man.” If the Spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you can be sure there is something in you that He wants to hurt to the point of its death.

Luke 9:58. These words destroy the argument of serving Jesus because it’s a pleasant thing to do. And the strictness of the rejection that He demands of me allows for nothing to remain in my life but my Lord, myself, and a sense of desperate hope. He says that I must let everyone else come or go, and that I must be guided solely by my relationship to Him. And He says, “. . . the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Luke 9:59. This man did not want to disappoint Jesus, nor did he want to show a lack of respect for his father. We put our sense of loyalty to our relatives ahead of our loyalty to Jesus, forcing Him to take last place. When your loyalties conflict, always obey Jesus whatever the cost.

Luke 9:61. The person who says, “I will follow you, Lord, but . . .” is the person who is intensely ready to go, but never goes. This man had reservations about going. The exacting call of Jesus has no room for goodbyes; goodbyes, as we often use them, are pagan, not Christian, because they divert us from the call.

Once the call of God comes to you, start going and never stop.
—Oswald Chambers

responding How have I been holding back from giving God my all? What will it take for me to truly surrender to His call? Whom in the Bible do I identify with, as I think about my relationship with God? Why?
following To follow the call of God is our priority.

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