The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. {
2Peter 3:9}
Repentance is a 10-letter word which is hardly ever spoken of in the Western Church. Just as God has called us to walk in holiness before Him, so has He called us to repent of our sins and turn to Him.
For a while now, I have staggered away from holiness, due to the hurt I suffered while in that movement. But, as time has passed and the wounds have begun to heal, I have begun as well to see the need for a walk of holiness before the Lord. One brother said it like this, that the Gospel is a scandal to the world, calling us to modesty and separation unto the Lord. The Gospel call is to repent and be converted, and after this to walk in holiness before the Lord.
We are not to be like the world. We are not to dress like Brittany Spears, talk like Axel Rose, or watch that which glorifies what God calls an abomination. When we are saved, it is not through some prayer, but through our faith by His grace. This should cause us to leave the rudiments of the world behind, and turn back our faces towards the Cross. True faith should lead a soul to repentance!
I know some would say I am returning back to the “holiness movement”, but that is not the case at all. I am coming full circle to see what the Bible is saying about all of this. I am seeing how we, as believers, should walk in holiness, because such is a fruit of repentance. And holiness is not something taught in the pulpit, but is something birthed in the heart, produced in the life. It is not the preacher going back to the Old Testament commanding how a believer should live, but is about a life repentant and holy before the Lord, and turned towards the Cross.
Holiness is about showing forth the spirit of repentance. The ‘holiness movement’ does not have holiness, because it does not have repentance. The majority of westernized churches do not live holy because they no longer preach repentance. In truth, a majority of people in many churches will end up in Hell from the westernized churches, because they have been led down a road that is absent of repentance, and that is a true highway to hell if there ever was one.
I have said it before, and I will say it again, that religion is the most dangerous of all drug addictions because it leads one to believe they are right in God’s eyes, when in fact they are dead wrong. This is where I witness a lack of holiness, a lack of repentance, in our churches.
This posting has got to be the most I have written about holiness in an awful long time. But, as the Lord has been working in me, and I have been seeing men of God stand, and I mean stand, for Gospel truth and preaching, my eyes are opening more and more to this desperate need for repentance in the church.
Repentance = Holiness
Holiness = Repentance
When one turns from sin, one turns unto the Lord. This produces holiness in their life.
*Posted on my blog, "
Reaching Thoughts".
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