100 days of holiness

My experience over the weekend can be divided into two parts. Part 1 consists of what God taught me directly from His Word. It stems from the morning and evening sessions along with the discussions I had with some youths afterwards. Part 1 aims to strip away the designed intent of the retreat. The focus of Part 2 revolves around the current struggles and wrestling matches I am engaged in. Some of it pulls ideas from the weekend's theme, but a lot of it is a product of time spent worshiping, meditating, and being alone with my Prophet, Priest, and King. Part 1 is as follows...

The title of my post sums up the challenge placed before all participants of the retreat. Over the next 100 days, holiness is my goal. However, the challenge is not so much about being perfect as it is fulfilling the intent of holiness: being set apart. The weekend's speaker emphasized what the desire of every Christian should be. He wanted us to see holiness as not being without sin as much as allowing ourselves to be set apart for Christ. A lot of the material echoed the content in the Unfashionable book I am reading again with my band of brothers. Too often we get caught up trying to make a difference by blending in with those around us. We try to be a "holier" parallel to what this world is offering, when we should be a stark contrast. Holiness requires us to set ourselves apart from the world because we serve a God whose ways are the opposite of what we are being fed. The 100 days starts off by acknowledging one area we feel God wants us to be set apart in. It might be giving something up or taking something on, depending on what we feel God wants from us. As the days continue, we are wait with expectancy for God to shine His light on other areas needing to be set apart. The desire is to see how much cleaning God does in us as we commit ourselves to being set apart for His glory. We were reminded how the pain and awkwardness will test us, but the blessings will last an eternity.

The beginning of my 100 days revolves my mind. God has graciously blessed me with an intelligent mind that loves to read and learn. However, in my fallen state, this blessing has become one of my curses. What God designed for His glory, I have turned into a collection of rubbish and junk. The Bible is full of passages detailing how depraved the human mind truly is (try Romans). Together with the heart, it sinfully wants nothing to do with Christ unless prompted by the Spirit. I have learned this reality the hard way. Paul tells us to be transformed in our minds from the selfish pattern we were once enslaved to. My mind jumps back and forth between being transformed and conformed. To be holy (set apart), my focus should be on only that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (I may have missed one). Therefore God has challenged me to remove the junk I allow to fill my mind. A lot of this junk comes in the form of comedic, yet entirely unwholesome television programs and movies. I try to convince myself of their inability to affect my thinking, but I have learned the temptation is the greatest when I open the door. I am starting here and waiting to see where God's holiness leads me next. Honestly, I am kinda nervous because I can name some things already that need fixing, but I am not sure if I am ready to let them go.