Race for the Final Frontier For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:23-33 NLT) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1-2 Today the Church is standing at the edge of a great frontier. I believe it is the final frontier that stands between us and the fullness of God’s glory. On the other side lie the greatest manifestations of God’s power this earth has ever seen. What is the last, great, spiritual frontier? Holiness. That’s right. Holiness is the final frontier. And we will cross it before Jesus comes to catch us away. I know we will because the Bible says that He is coming for a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). In other words, He is coming for a Church that is holy. Some people get more excited about being the glorious Church than they do about being the holy Church. They have the idea that the glory of God is exciting, while holiness is boring. But that’s not true! Glory and holiness are both wonderful things—and you can’t have the fullness of one without the other. The reason is simple. Holiness is what allows the glory of God to be manifest. So the more we walk in holiness, the more God will be able to pour forth His glory through us! Holiness is a formidable word to many. But it simply means “separation to God for His use.” Knowing that should make us hungry for holiness. It should make us more eager than ever to separate ourselves from the things of the world unto the things of the Spirit. It should give us an intense desire to obey Romans 12:1-2. So commit yourself to being holy. Present yourself to God as a living sacrifice. Move on into the spiritual realm—race for the final frontier. Speak the Word “I present my body to God as a living sacrifice. I will live a holy life, acceptable unto Him, which is my reasonable service.” —Romans 12:1
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 02:06:15 +0000