I think there haven’t been enough people who have intentionally pursued their faith. I know I didn’t. I attended worship, I went on mission trips, I served where the Church asked me to serve. I was a regular feature of the churches I was attending, and I did all of those things, without being present in my own Faith. I lost sight of the reason behind all of those things, for the act of serving.

I was all about serving the kingdom, but had not done anything to serve the King.

God has been throwing the word “intentional” at me for several years, and I am only now starting to feel like I am working towards that mentality.

To that end, I was attending a Secret Church event when three concepts that flow through scripture finally came to light in a way I could articulate. Maybe it was staying up later than I normally do, or maybe it was the Spirit, but part of the event that resonated with me was wrapped up in this concept that God’s people are called to be Holy, that they are meant to be humble, and that God’s people are meant to be full of His nobility.

I struggled with Holiness. The concept in my mind had always been very hard to define. It was a ‘church word’ that wasn’t used outside of ‘church conversations’. I had to wrestle with what it means to actually be Holy; what it means when my Holiness isn’t something I can do on my own. God brings Holiness to His people to draw them away from the world around them, and to give them a specific purpose. His Holiness calls us to be about His business. Jesus came to ‘seek and save’ what was lost, and my life is forever changed because I was found.

Humility has a bad reputation. It isn’t being embarrassed, afraid, or feeling ‘less than’ others. God hasn’t called his people to a life of being walked over and beaten down, He calls us to recognize that our place in His kingdom is a free gift to us, paid for through the life of another. The call of God’s humility is for us to attempt, as humans, to reflect the “still small voice” God used to speak to Elijah as he stood in the mouth of the cave. God spoke in a way that Elijah had to be actively seeking to hear, and if the Creator chooses to speak to his servants that way, then we as his people can learn how to live in a way that breathes that same Humility in our daily life.

God is and has the ultimate Nobility. He is the only Author and the only Creator of all things. He is full of Grace and Truth. God serves and acts on behalf of His people all throughout Scripture, He chooses to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. He demonstrates a willingness to sacrifice of Himself to bring out something good for His people, which is ultimately seen in the life and sacrifice of Jesus. I was finally able to see this for what it really is, and it crystallized into the word Heroic. The people of God are to be as much of an echo of God’s Heroism as we can be. Laying aside what we can, in order to bring about good for other people. This is most clearly seen when we put aside our own desires to try and reach someone who is dying in the desert of the world, and can only be rescued by the Life that is found in Christ.

I am resolved to not let what has been, be what will be for my life. The desire of my soul is to be about God’s business. Jesus must be more than I have made Him, and that means I must continually renew and refine the way I see Him.

I am convinced that if the early believers had faith like mine, then I would have never heard the Name.

I cannot let that remain a truthful statement about me. Holy. Humble. Heroic. Three facets of His character that God has blessed me to see, and I pray that I can keep my eyes open, because there must be more than this.