10. May 2, 2014

I was sitting here playing solitaire thinking if there was something I should be writing instead. Nothing came to mind.

I started to think more on Holiness. And then several other thoughts came to mind. All of them were related in that it all goes back to Jesus.

In an earlier blog I wrote that we are Holy already. That is, if we believe in Christ.

Please forgive me if my writing is jumping around and my written thoughts seem to go all over the place. If I don’t write down what comes to mind when it does I usually forget it soon afterward. Writing this apology has given me what I call a “Brain Fart”. The several things I wanted to write have since turned into thin air and floated off and are no more. But I am absolutely certain the Holy Spirit has anticipated this and will soon put me back on track. That is what I believe and I am sticking to it.

Here we go...

You all know that we are saved by Grace. I capitalize Grace because I believe Grace is a person, and that is Jesus. When Jesus gave us Himself, He gave if Grace, Peace, Hope, Love. The list goes on because those things are Christ. Have you read Norman Grubb's book “The Key to Everything”. I highly recommend it. If you click the picture on the right it will take you to a website that has the book available to read online.

Here is what Norman said:

“... my first discovery came as I read one famous verse in the first letter of John: "God is love."

Suddenly the is stuck out. What dawned on me went something like this: It doesn't say God has love, but God is love. If some body has a thing, it isn't he himself. It's something just attached to him, as if you've got a coat on or something in your pocket. You just have it, and you can share it. But the Bible doesn't say God has love, but God is love.

Love, therefore, must not be a thing I can have. Love is exclusively a Person. God is love. Therefore, there is no other pure, self-giving love in the universe beyond Him Himself. Love is exclusively a characteristic of one Person only — and that's not Norman Grubb.

That was a deflation for me. I had thought I could have love imparted to me, channeled into me, and I'd be more loving. But I suddenly found God saying, "You'll never have one iota of love. I am love, and that's the end of it."

Love is a Person; one Person only loving — and that's not I, and that's not you. God is love and, therefore, love is God loving.”

Does that not get you thinking? It did me. Now lets look at the famous “Love” verse:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Here is a little sidebar – if you cant or don’t quote chapter and verse when quoting the Bible, don’t be concerned. Jesus never did when he quoted scripture. Check it out, He usually only said “It is written” or something along that line.

If you think of the phrase “God is love” and put it in a mathematical formula it would read: God = Love. Mathematically that means you can exchange “God” for “Love” and not change the value of the computation. Lets take the above verse and do the math on it.

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails.

That should change the way you think. That is what is meant to repent. I literally means to change the way you have previously thought and think about it differently.

Earlier I stated that we are already Holy if we believe in Jesus. Here is the math on that.

"And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!""

Here is states that God = Holy. So how can we say that we are Holy?

God = Father, Son, Holy Spirit (as one being)

God = Father

God = Jesus

God = Holy Spirit

Paul writes:

“I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me...”

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Here is another quote from Norman Grubb:

“The other verse …. is perhaps my favorite in the Bible. It is Galatians 2:20, where Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ

That's the old Paul out.

Then he says, "..... nevertheless, I live."

That's the new Paul in Christ: a living, thinking, willing, feeling, battling human. A real person.

But listen: then he corrects himself and adds, "Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."

He could very easily have said, "Nevertheless I live and Christ lives in me"—as if Christ lived near him or close by him.

But you see, he replaced self by Christ.

That's the point.

He said, "Nevertheless, I live—excuse me, the real I isn't I at all, it is Christ."

In other words, your other self is Christ. It is not you, it's Christ. There are two selves joined in one; and the other self is Christ.

That's why it's indivisible. That's why it's ridiculous to look around or above and try to find Christ.

You don't try to find yourself, do you? Wherever you go, you are there, aren't you?

However you feel about it, you can't escape your self.

And your other self is Christ; you can't escape Him either!

I'm sorry if Christ has to go where you go! But that's His business!

In the grace of God, Jesus Christ tied Himself to us.

Isn't that amazing? You can't escape Him.

Where you go, He goes. He's your other self; He's not you.

You're you; He's He.

You contain Him; He motivates you. And you learn the habits of this abiding life.

He is the one who lives it.

You are His means of expressing Himself.”

Because we are inseparable from Christ we can say Us = Christ, and therefore Us = Holy. This has nothing to do with us but only because of Christ Himself. We are nothing, He is everything.

Repent. Open your mind and allow Gods thoughts be your thoughts.