You Tell Them What I Said.

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. (First Peter 2:11)

In First Peter 2, the apostle Peter reminds his readers of the promises extended to ancient Israel and urged them to choose obedience over self-indulgence. In time past, God told Moses to give the people of God a message: "'Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites." (Exodus 19:5-6) Thousands of years later, the message echoes in our hearing: I have called you to be My treasured possession, but take heed to My words: If you obey Me fully. If you keep My covenant.

On this past Sunday I was a little challenged by our use of the new term "frakes" (a combination of the words "frauds" and "fakes") because I know someone whose last name is Frakes, and that person is neither fraud nor fake. But the intent behind the term is a Scriptural truth: good trees bear good fruit, and corrupt trees bear corrupt fruit. The fig tree cursed by Christ looked great from a distance-- but a closer inspection revealed that in spite of the leafy show, the tree had been corrupted. It absorbed nutrients, depleted soil, and contaminated the landscape, giving nothing in return. It was a frake.

And, for frakes in the faith, there is a warning that we in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition take very seriously. If we take heed and obey Christ fully, then we will experience His shalom: the promise of rest, peace, tranquility, and provision. If we obey Christ partially, or not at all, then we have reneged on our part of the covenant and God is therefore not obligated to give us entrance into His shalom. Actually, it is more than God not being obligated: He has sworn that He will not turn a blind eye to disobedience. "Your fathers tested Me; they tried Me even though they had seen My works. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, 'They are are a people who err in their hearts, and do not know My ways.' Therefore I swore in My anger, 'Truly they shall not enter into My rest.'" (Psalm 95:9-11)

God said to them, and He says to us, Don't just see My works. Know My ways. Don't just hear My voice. Heed My commands. If you don't heed Me, no one will ever see Me in you; and you, in turn, will never see Me.


Lord God, You have called us to pursue holiness. Give us grace to unreservedly, completely, gladly, fully obey You.