Holiness is definitely about groundbreaking. When I taste the flavor of the word 'groundbreaking', it has a positive taste. In 2006 I published a booklet by the title “Groundbreaking Spiritual Leadership” (Illustration). In eight small chapters, I focused on seven remarkable leaders in the Bible.
All seven were groundbreakers. Very often in a good way, but if groundbreaking is one of your characteristics, there is always a danger that you easily cross borders you should have left uncrossed.
David is a good (or bad?) example. He was a groundbreaker even as a teenager, facing Goliath without armor and with only a sling as weapon.
But wasn’t it just this capacity that led to his fall in sin with Bathsheba?
From his roof he spotted a beautiful woman taking a bath, and he was tempted. Yesterday I concluded that temptation is not sin. Sin is to follow my will instead of God’s will. In the moral context of his time, it was not wrong of David to make enquiries about the woman, but he should have stopped when he heard that she was the wife of Uriah. David’s sin was that he chose his way and called for the woman. Then followed all the consequences of sin: Adultery, lies, conspiracy and complicity in murder. A sharp contrast to the high integrity of Uriah (1).
When David realized what he had done, he repented and made penance. The feeling of devastation over what he had done was mixed with the anxiety of losing the Holy Spirit. He knew that he was dependent upon holiness to stay in God’s plan (2). When I face temptation it is healthy to know what I jeopardize losing if I break ground God has asked me to stay away from.
‘Manna’ for today:
It is about knowing what I have…--------------------------------
because then I know what I jeopardize losing!
(1) 2 Sam 11
(2) Psalm 51
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