Talked with Rose and William this morning.  They have several kids from their goat herds.  Rose has some that she feels will make good Auction goats, giving the qualities of each over the phone.  It was interesting and fun listening to her give the descriptions and what the judges will like in each.  She can only have two in competition, but will have several choices as they mature.

She did say that she was getting rid of the boys, since they weren’t worth anything – struck me as funny as my mind immediately jumped to human boys – had a good laugh.

The end of the semester is coming up, many of her teachers have what they call amnesty week.  They will allow those who haven’t turned in their homework to do so now without penalty AND students can retake tests to better their scores.  Actually not a bad idea at this age – she is a sophomore – although they also need to understand when deadlines are given their future employers will expect them done on time – no amnesty from most bosses. 

1 Peter 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

¹⁶ Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Holy, what is it like to be Holy?  Is it being free from temptation?  Free from trials and tribulations because a person is so Holy the things of this world do not interest him?

How is it that some people can go through great trials, loss of friends and family, persecution, incarceration, torture and even disfigurement and still remain humble before the Lord – and yet others go through far less and are embittered and angry toward Him?

Is it an attitude?  Is it being pious?  How can man be Holy when He is not perfect?  We look at even the most dedicated Christians and we see imperfections in some way.

How do we suppress sinful urges, sinful thoughts?  How do we remain free from sin so we can be Holy, when we realize we often sin daily?

Christ was the only perfect man, only Christ was truly Holy; how can we possibly attain His Holiness?

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Job went through some of the most trying times in the Old Testament stories, he knew as the Psalmist knew that we can only come to Holiness by understanding who God is in relationship to who we are; and fearing Him, respecting and listening to Him and then confessing our faith by actively living it, is the only way for us to become Holy.

It is imperative we draw from the examples of Holy people from the Bible; in them we see our hope.  We see that Abraham, Moses, Job, Daniel, David and dozens of other leaders, prophets and servants of God made mistakes, they sinned, yet, they understood that God was forgiving and that He would continue to work through them.

The only way we can be Holy, as He is Holy, is to know who He is; to submit ourselves to Him as the Divine Power, the Creator, the absolute authority on what He expects of us, on how we can become Holy – as He is Holy.

We do see people who seem to be what God wants a person to be.  They have confidence in God and they live their life accordingly.  But in all that they are not perfect, they have or have had their struggles with the things of this world.

One of the first ‘mentors’ that I had as a new Christian was an older gentleman who was wise and caring, not only to me but to many others.  I went to him for advice over many years; he was there to help me through my early Christian life.

I can remember that one person was talking about some serious issues she had experienced several years before – I told her she should have called my mentor, he would have come and helped.

She looked at me with sad eyes and ‘an I can’t tell you everything look,’ and said, “He was not always what he is now; I could not depend on him at that time.”

The truth was he had been a heavy drinker, he had, in his own words, ‘made and lost millions of dollars several times.’  He had ignored the needs of his family and had come and gone within the church many times in his drive to succeed in business.  He one time told me that he finally gave up drinking (and drunken behavior) when his granddaughter was born – that was just a few months prior to our conversation and he had been mentoring me for over a year.

I had looked upon him as being Holy as God was Holy, yet, he was not – he was sinning, there was still part of his life that was hidden, not submitted to God, yet, in direct conflict with the teachings of the church and the Word of God.

That was over 50 years ago – and by the way, I didn’t run away from the man, or become discouraged, I learned what has been proven many times in my life and my observation of others, that living for God, striving to be as Holy as He is, is a process and a life-long endeavor.  We see that in those Biblical accounts of God’s leaders, many went for long periods of time in their sinful behavior before they came back to Him.

We are not always successful on a daily basis, yet we can grow closer to Him on a daily basis, learn from our mistakes and move on in our service to Him.

To do that we must firmly understand who He is; how he can help us.

Mathew 8:7-10 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

⁸ The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

⁹ For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Obviously the Centurion was not a Jew.  He was not a physical follower of Christ.  However, from what he had heard he knew that Christ had the authority to command and He would be obeyed.

The Centurion had faith in Jesus, a faith that, even though Christ had many followers, many believers in Him, He had not yet seen.

This story is there for our edification, so that we too can have that kind of faith. 

The Centurion understood who Christ was, what His authority was, I want to have that same faith to believe that Christ can do whatever He is asked to do.

My prayer today is to truly believe in Christ, not just for His salvation, but for everything he taught and stood for; to fully understand and rely on that belief as I go through the rest of my life.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again