Holiness – Chase Coleman

“… holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” This verse in Hebrews has been rattling around in my little head these past weeks. When I came into the Fellowship we sat in a house one night and told each other the one word that we wanted to be known by this year. All twelve of us went around, and each one by one told our words to each other. The word that I chose for myself was “zeal”. The desire of my heart for the year was to be a man marked by zeal for the Lord, to forsake the passions of the flesh and to set the heart and mind on the things above (Col 3:2). To set my mind on things that are above is to recognize that my life is but a mist that vanishes at dawn. Realizing that each day is but a gift of God and to Him is due glory and praise. I find myself praising Him for early mornings sitting at a table with a man I have only known three months, but feels like a brother I have known for years. I find myself grateful for men that hold me accountable to “die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). I see godly women in this place that have been pierced by the word of God and are being sanctified through it. I see full-time staff stepping away from their offices and doing trash runs on Friday mornings to help alleviate work on us. I see long days in the dining hall doing dishes and thinking “can this bring glory to Christ?”, and I look over to my fellows singing the lyrics to “Be Thou My Vision”. Let the latter answer the former in that question.

This job that we do here is tough, but to know that I am surrounded by men and women obedient to Christ gives me such assurance that this is the place the Lord has placed me in this season. There is no other place that I would have the Lord show me what zeal looks like, then to see it at this place, with this people, at this time. Holiness is a thing to be sought more than silver or gold to the Christian. Because without it we will never see the Lord, and I see a people zealous for it.

"And this I do boldly and confidently say, that true holiness is a great reality. It is something in a man that can be seen, and known, and marked, and felt by all around him. It is light: if it exists, it will show itself. It is salt: if it exists, its savour will be perceived. It is a precious ointment: if it exists, its presence cannot be hid." J.C. Ryle – Holiness

Chase Coleman - Legacy Fellowship