Chapter 4

Practical Holiness

The true test of your holiness message is:

Does your spouse believe it?

Warning! please note. The following statements are truly bigoted and obviously pre-holiness.

"No matter how hard I try I can't please you.?
"What has happened? You're not the person I married."
"you're no Tom Selic either, dear".
"I 'm sick of this constant complaining."
"You always twist what I say."

Barb and I have been married thirty years. Twenty nine of them were filled with struggle to know what to do about our apparent conflict of nature. We often felt like we were from different planets and just couldn't understand each others. Many hours in the study on the part of each of us produced totally opposite views of what would be the standard of our family.

The confusion created by earthly desire, is mind boggling. We have four children. Two girls, two boys , sundry friends and critters. Most of our married life has been centered in raising these little people to be monsters like ourselves. They are now mostly grown a girl 24, boy 20, boy 16, and a girl 13. The truth is: They witnessed the reality of the comments listed above. We were so filled with this incredible desire to be the best parents we could be Goodness became our god. Child nurturing our cause.

Both our parents were products of the great depression and WWII, you know the big one. We had what I now consider to be a Psycho Destructive bias. Three decades of self help gurus convinced us that our parents were the culprits, and if we took nurf bats and beat and imaginary dummy and vented our anger at mom and dad we would be healed to live out a life of prosperity and peace.

Practical Holiness begins at home

"Sorry kids. I was wrong." I recently called my son, a junior at Michigan State University, and said; "Son we have to talk. everything I taught you is wrong." . Well, everything is a lot of stuff. I now long to tell the kids that on February 23, 1995 I offered to God the last hidden area of my inner self and God did a work of grace transforming my life.

1. Marriage: Two souls joined at the heart.
2. No room for anger and resentment.
3. Purity is the center.
4. Maturity is the goal
5. Eternity is the perspective.

A cloud of memories. Short sentences spinning into the past- futile recurring actions trying to do good so the haunting darkness can be cured of its blackness. Do you long for the cure of this darkness that keeps you from your destiny? God took the resentment away.

Two souls joined at the heart.

Two become one flesh. The world grows more affluent with each passing year, yet families flop about like fish taken off the hoop to die in the belly of anglers boat. Why? Why do half of all marriages end in divorce? Because Satan has convinced the world that purity is beyond our reach. Even the Church has given up its claim to a commitment to lifetime partnership. Two souls joined at the heart. There can be no unity in flesh as long as the heart of stone remains. True marriage is full surrender of our carnal selfish will. We all are born into this broken world of anger and hate. It is not our fault.

No room for Anger and Resentment

Proper diagnosis of the problem is essential. Look inside. no one is looking. just roll back the phony facad of your life and take a peek at the true self hidden at the center of your mind. That's right. . Identify the anger and resentment that causes you to take brutal pot shots at the person you love most in all the world. It is Satan who convinces you that your life would work if only the other people in your life would change. Wrong! You must surrender your heart of stone for a new heart moved at the impulse of God's perfect love.

Purity is the center of a Godly marriage.

The carnal nature decieves a fellow into believing that his role in life is to slowly mold this feminine piece of clay into a wonderful princess soon to be queen. Oh, Lord forgive me I have created a monster. Foolish is the man who thinks he can change his wife. Thirty years of tinkering transforms a married couple into a roaring lion with two heads, and no tail. Sure it can roar loud but it never knows where it is going. Only when the tugging separated will of two is removed and the divine will of God is imparted can two become one. Purity is the beginning of marriage. The absence of filth and mistrust will cause a rushing in of God's love and power.

Maturity is the goal

Entire sanctification is not the total cure for a marriage on the rocks. When I got up the next morning after full surrender there were no visible signs of transforming grace. I just felt different. I no longer needed to reconstruct the people around me. I began to see others as they truly were. Every one different. All of us moving toward a lighted path created by the one perfect man, Jesus. God wills that we all become holy as he is Holy.

Eternity is the perspective

God is assembling a kingdom of believers who will one day serve in a world with justice and truth as its center. Christ will be the king. Darkness will be dispelled and we will dwell in peace with all. It all begins with pardon and is made perfect in purity. We can become one with each other as Christ was one with his father. Reality check! After thirty years we are embracing marriage with God the Holy Spirit doing the changing. It was not luck that put this wonder of God in my path. She is the light of my life and is becoming the perfect reflection of His grace. We will now grow together in holiness.

There is still some debate as to who does the roaring but we are working on it.

Sincerely yours growing in Holiness
Signed :
The Tail.