Weekly Update 2.4.19

Yesterday was an important day in my relationship with my wife.  It was eight years ago on February 3rd I got down on one knee and asked her a very important question  – where she wanted to go for dinner 🙂  No, I got down on one knee in a snow bank and asked her if she would marry me!  Obviously she said yes and here we find ourselves today.

I was thinking about the importance of this day in our lives yesterday as I was also reflecting on the message from 1 Peter to pursue holiness.  I realized that perhaps the two things can be rather similar in some ways.  When we first come to know Jesus as more than just an historical figure but instead as our personal Lord and Savior, we are filled with an excitement, a passion, a desire to do everything we can to please Him.  In short, we pursue holiness.  We look at our lives, at our strings if you were here yesterday, and we ask ourselves and we ask God “what can I do better?  What do you need me to change?” and then we do it.  Likewise in a new marriage, we seek to please our spouse.  We look for ways to love them better, to love them more, to change things in order to please them.

And then over time that passion for holiness and the passion for a spouse may begin to wane.  We settle into patterns of behavior that, while not bad, may not be ideal either.  In Revelations chapter 2, Jesus holds this very issue out against the church in Ephesus.  He says “you have forsaken the love you had at first.”  When it comes to pursuing holiness in our relationship with God, have we lost the love, the passion, the desire we had at first?  Are we still pursuing God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength…or are we just skating by?  We are called to holiness because we serve a holy God!  We need to get fired up once more for the One who gave His all for us!

What are you doing this week to get fired up for God?  What are you doing this week to pursue holiness in all areas of your life?  Spend some time this week asking God what He would call you to do!

 

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Jan