ChosenRebel's Blog

I have two objectives with this post.

1. To be biblical
2. To not be overly complicated.

What are the best descriptors of someone who walks with God? 

It would be hard to do better than the description of Job given three times in the early chapters of the book of Job. Let’s try them on.

“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job;
and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.”     (Job 1:1)

The Lord said to Satan,
“Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”    (Job 1:8)

The Lord said to Satan,
“Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds firm to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”    (Job 2:3)

Hard to miss the descriptors of a truly godly man (or woman, for that matter). 

1. Blameless, 

2. Upright,

3. Fearing God, and

4. Turning away from evil.

It raises a question for me:

How do you live that way for a lifetime? 

And as soon as I ask it, I remember an article I read years ago, that had a major impact on my life. It was an article written by J. Oswald Sanders, author of the best book on leadership I have ever read (Spiritual Leadership). As I remember it, a young man had asked Sanders how to live a holy life. “Young man, don’t worry about living a holy life. Just try to live a holy minute and then live another one.” 

Some 40+ years ago, I read that article and thought,

“Yes. It’s not overly complicated. We just make it so.”

From that time till now, I have tried and failed, and tried and failed and repented and confessed, and tried and failed. But nothing has changed. Oh, my life has changed. But I still have a long way to go, unfortunately. But what hasn’t changed is this: I still need to live a holy minute and try to spend a lifetime piling them up on top of one another. I will make progress as I grow in the “grace and knowledge of Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), as I yield to the Spirit of Christ (Romans 12:1-2), and, one day when I draw my last breath, Jesus will finish what He started (Philippians 1:6; 2:13) and in the twinkling of an eye everything that hasn’t been made holy will be made holy instantly in His presence (1 Corinthians 15:52).

Isn’t the gospel great news!