God’s holiness, I think, is a searing sun that burns close to earth. Its flame is inescapable. When we awake to our spiritual surroundings, we realize we are standing in a burning building. We are waiting for the roof to cave in, and what is worse, the building encompasses all of existence, and cannot be abandoned. We search for a fire escape and find nothing.
The blaze is austere and horrifying, a very inferno, until we experience a conversion, a switch, a transformation of being. Flame is kindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and we also become creatures of fire.
Seen in the heavenly realm, we blaze. We are sparks, spiraling near a colossal bonfire. And so we walk near the fiery heat of God and are warmed and strengthened, not consumed.
Christ has lit us up—and what has fire to fear from fire?
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Gods Holiness Blazes?
Subscribe to:
or 
or
3 comments:
We can only grow in God's glory. Only grow, if we are truly IN it and participating.
One spark can ignite a revolution that can overcome the depths and gates of hell. Christ prevails! Preach it Bro!
By way of clarifying this post slightly: I find there are certain categories and topics in Christian faith that tend to get downplayed and reduced simply because we struggle to present them effectively. Our language just doesn't match up very well with certain types of reality.
A usual suspect here is God's holiness, or purity, or perfection - which is often explained in negative terms. For example, "God's holiness is the absence of all those vices that make people sinful." But in God, surely holiness is something real and present and formidable - something more than a surprising lack of evil.
I tend to wince slightly when I hear characteristics that are surely "positively" present in God spoken about mainly in negative terms. It may not be easy to do so, but I think we ought to look for language (even if it's metaphor) to picture such things in a more fitting way.
Post a Comment