Reflections on holiness

More thoughts from these tapes -

holiness is not something we achieve by stopping doing things but something we become by spending more time with God and allowing the Holy Spirit to challenge and change us.

Bill spoke at church on Sunday about his sort of thing when he was talking about compassion and the Holy Spirit and what that means for us. The starting point seems to be tuning in and focusing on what God is doing and what the Spirit may be telling us.

Not a new ground-breaking thought i know, but I found it helpful to chew over particularly in the context of my reaction to the lifestyles of new-comers to the church. The temptation can be to tell them how they should be living in a judgmental fashion that doesn't allow for the fact that God speaks to people himself and often they can make that decision for themselves. That is not to say that accountability and correcting one another in love is not vital for a church community. I guess the danger is if the only role we assume in a person's life is to get involved in correcting more than loving.

What does it mean to be a mature Christian? Longevity in the church? Regularity of attendance? Knowledge of the Bible? - I don't think so! I like the definition they use at Mosaic LA. They say that a mature Christian is someone who takes the least amount of time to move from understanding to obedience. I was struck by this when hearing one of our young men speaking on Sunday about his involvement with the ministry to the homeless that a load of guys do in a cafe in St Paul on Monday nights. When asked why he did it and why he does more than his fair share of the rota he responded that it is a good thing to do and Vineyard is about getting involved - so why wouldn't he? In terms of age and time since conversion he would be considered a youngster - but maturity? I suspect streets ahead of many of us "students of christianity" who haven't quite made it to "discipleship" status quite yet.