Holiness Unto the Lord

When I went to Asbury College back in 1968, I went kicking and screaming.  Looking back I call it my Jonah in the belly of the big fish experience.  Jonah was called to go east; he went west.  I felt called to go north to Asbury; I went south to Georgia Southern.  I had one great academic quarter at Southern, but knew it was not where I belonged so I sent my application to the place I did not want to go.  Some may find it strange that a college would be chosen on the basis of the leading the Lord, but so it was for me in  those days.  I felt led to Asbury by God, but did not want to go.   

The most significant building at Asbury is Hughes Auditorium and at the front emblazoned high above the organ pipes are the words, "Holiness Unto the Lord."  Those words spoke of my problem.  I did not want those holiness people to get hold of me.  There was a strange dichotomy present as I feared the holiness doctrines and planned to be a preacher ordained in the tradition of John Wesley.  But, alas, reality and perception are often two different things.  What I really feared was turning loose the controls of my life so that I could be taught what it meant to live under the authority of the Holy Spirit.    

Living in submission to the Holy Spirit and living under His authority is where seekers of holiness are taken.  According to the Scripture holiness is about being devoted and set apart for the purposes of God.  (Leviticus 20:26...Romans 12:1) It is a huge step for so many of us who live under the illusion that we control our lives and fear giving it up.  One of the key words to understand as we think about holiness is abandonment.  Are we willing to abandon what we want for what God wants?  Those holiness folks surely had an influence on me back in my Asbury College days, but it was really the Holy Spirit who wanted to take hold of me.