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 this last great, spiritual frontier? It’s holiness.

We must cross this final frontier before Jesus returns to carry us away. I am sure of this because the Bible says 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 is 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 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 which says:

”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."

Too often, we use the excuse that ”I’m doing the best I can." That’s just a cop-out!

We adults are no different than little children who must be disciplined so they will learn to do better. Take, for example, the child who is spanked or grounded for disobeying his parents. Soon, the child will get tired of being grounded and surely will not want any more spankings, and he discovers he can indeed do better!

I often think of this example when God is dealing with me about some area of dedication and consecration. Too often, we are guilty of saying ”I’m doing the best I can!" when we are doing the best we want to do.

That’s the way it has been with the church in general. When it comes to laying ”aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us" (Hebrews 12:1), we haven’t done all we know to do. We’ve just done all we wanted to do.

We may have put away from us the major sins and even many minor sins, but there are some worldly hindrances we’ve held onto because our flesh enjoyed them. God hasn’t called us to make our flesh comfortable. He has called us to crucify it. He has called us to ”mortify (or to put to death) the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13). He has called us to ”cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates and defiles body and spirit, and bring our consecration to completeness in the reverential fear of God" (II Corinthians 7:1, Amplified Bible).

Notice that verse doesn’t say we must ask God to cleanse us. He has already cleansed us on the inside (our spirit). Now, it is our responsibility to cleanse our outer man. Your body is your responsibility to control, not God’s.