Raising the Bar

So, I was thinking the other day about the verse, 

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." -- Revelation 3: 15-16

So, no compromise. You know, it's easy to follow God when its beneficial to us. What about when it's not? So, I got to thinking, What if God asked me to, suddenly, do something I really did not want to do? Would I do it? Hmm....

God says in the Bible, " Be holy because I am holy." (Lev. 19:2) And that, by the way, is huge. How do I be holy? Well, first, the blood of Christ makes us holy. But how do I, then, keep a holy lifestyle? Obeying his commands and living life through His word... but NOT ONLY when it's benefits me, or when it's what I want to do. But wait....should I not want, what the Lord wants? Aha! And, if I follow the Lord, it does benefit me...just not the way I thought it should. God knows whats best for me. He knows what He's doing. What right have I  to say, " God, You need to do this so I can..." fill in the blank. I don't deserve anything, and the fact that He even accepts my love, by His mercy and Jesus' blood,  should be enough. 

   I really think God is raising a new standard of holiness for this generation. Guiding our steps more precisely and strictly. He's keeping a very close eye that we're staying on the path He has paved, not the one we want to walk on. 

"And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.  No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there..." Isaiah 35: 7-9

"Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law." Proverbs 119: 29