THE BOTTOM LINE REVEALED (STANDARDS)

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-higher-fire@prairienet.org
> [mailto:owner-higher-fire@prairienet.org]On Behalf Of
> gdrost@mailserv.nbnet.nb.ca
> Sent: Monday, September 07, 1998 8:49 AM
> To: higher-fire@prairienet.org
> Subject: Re: THE BOTTOM LINE REVEALED (STANDARDS)
>
>
> The question to ask ourselves  is why have standards?  Are standards
> man made, given by God or how do we get them?  The first problem is
> when people want to impose their standard, their own or the one of
> their church, on everybody else.  Their idea of holiness becomes the
> way they measure up people, if they meet their standard or of their
> church, they are holy, if not they are a compromiser.

I started thinking after reading the first part of what Bro. Drost wrote
that there is a standard that doesn't change. God is holy and He tells us to
be holy as He is holy.

Holiness is a way of life that separates us. It separates us in 2 ways: from
the world and to God.

The first way is temporary. The world will one day pass away and we will no
longer need to separate ourselves from it as it will be separated from us.

The second way of life is eternal. In the last day God will draw us unto
him, eternally. Those actions, attitudes, and thoughts of holiness that fall
into this category will continue in heaven.

Examples of both: 1) not going "certain" places. This will pass away, since
these places will exist no more.
2) Worship. This will continue throughout eternity, and draw us closer to
God. The priest when offering worship to God had "holiness unto the Lord"
written on his garments.

This realization of two types of standards gives us two things to think
about:

1) Those standards that relate to the world are important here and must be
practices since they will not matter in the world to come.

2) Those standards which will continue into the next world must be practiced
here so that we'll be "practiced up" when we get there.

The problem occurs when we think that practices in type one are actually in
type two. We are not being like God when we practice type one standards. God
doesn't need to separate Himself from the world. We are like Him when we
practice those standards which have eternal value.

In short we must have Godliness so that when our "world-separating"
standards are practiced, those that we separate from will see the character
of Christ coming through our lives.