About David Porter

When he was in college, David Porter wanted to be a journalist. Today he is a preacher. In Coffee Stains, the preacher and journalist meet to bless everyone who likes a funny East Texas story with a spiritual kicker at the end!

Does the Word “Holiness” Scare You? 

Holiness

Somewhere in my checkered childhood, I heard a really stupid song. I thought about it recently. I didn’t remember much about the song itself, just the ending. So, I did what any highly educated person does today—I Googled it.

Turns out I was remembering a line from a song by Homer and Jethro, The Battle of Kookamonga (I hesitate to continue). That silly song lodged itself in my brain and remained there for decades. Probably explains a lot of things.

Anyway, it’s about a Boy Scout troop that sings, “We don’t smoke, and we don’t chew, and we don’t go with the girls who do.”

That’s good advice. If you see a girl with tobacco juice running down her chin, it’s probably best to let someone else date her.

However, what resonated most with me was the idea that this is how some view holiness. Don’t smoke, don’t chew, don’t curse, don’t steal, don’t lie, etc. (And don’t go with girls who do.)

Is That Holiness Or Orderliness?

Now it’s good not to do that stuff. But that’s not the heart of holiness. At one time, many Christians thought that a holy life was a long list of “don’ts” designed to take all the fun out of life.

Today, holiness has simply taken its place as one of those theological words that soar into the spiritual stratosphere but have no meaning in our daily lives.

If our idea of a God-pleasing life is simply a list of do’s and DON’Ts, though, we are missing something vital about God. God is holy. Set apart. He’s the ultimate of every good thing—love, wisdom, power, etc.

A. W. Tozer, in “The Knowledge of the Holy,” defines God’s holiness this way:

“Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because He is holy, His attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy.”

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!’”(Isaiah 6:1-3)

R.C. Sproul comments on this in his the book, The Holiness of God:

“On a handful of occasions, the Bible repeats something to the third degree. To mention something three times in succession is to elevate it to the superlative degree. Only once in Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love or mercy, mercy, mercy or justice, justice, justice.”

He Is Holy, But Me, Holy?

“But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

Sometimes when I hear the word “holiness,” I feel like one of the children of Israel trembling before God’s awe-inspiring presence on Mount Sinai. The mountain was shaking and smoking. The people were shaking in fear. There was a whole lot of shaking going on.

“The people said to Moses, “You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’” (Deut. 5:27, NKJV)

And when I see how God is, I’m shaking and sorrowful.

I’m shaking because He’s perfect peace, (Romans 16:20) the God of all grace, (1 Pi. 5:10), the God of hope, (Rom. 15:13), the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, (2 Cor. 1) and the God who gives endurance and encouragement. (Rom. 15:5).

Yeah, but He is but I’m not.

I’ve got a way to go in all those categories.

I love God’s presence, but how can I enter the presence of a holy God? And He commands me to be holy, else I’ll never see Him. C’mon Lord. How?

The fellow who has checked all the “do’s and don’ts boxes,” may get proud and feel like he can strut into God’s presence to the accolades of the angels and the Lord himself.

“Look at me.”

Or the flip side of the coin (for honest people). How can I enter God holy presence? Sure, I’ve done some good things, but I’ve screwed up, too. How could I hide my sins in the eternal light of God?

One Can

When God’s people saw Mt. Sinai shaking and burning, there was an injunction forbidding people to go on the mountain. Only Moses could go all the way to the top, into God’s presence. Moses’ action was a metaphor for what the Lord Jesus did for us.

Before Jesus died on the cross, there was a curtain in the Temple between God’s presence and the priests, except the High Priest who entered once a year to offer a sacrifice for the people’s sins. But Jesus entered the heavenly temple with His own blood to pay the price for our sins.

Our Acts Don’t Matter Then?

Holiness doesn’t make a difference in the way we act, then? Certainly, but our actions flow from what we are and not how we try to be holy. Now we have the power to live in a way pleasing to God by the strength of God’s Spirit within us.

It’s no longer just us, trying and failing, or checking all the boxes on the list. It’s God himself and His holiness living through us, giving us the power to live according to his Word. (Romans 8:1-4)mWe worship, we serve God and others, we separate ourselves from things that destroy us and those around us by His strength.

Holiness isn’t scary. Real holiness is beautiful.

Don’t Let the Sky Bonk You On the Head

Most of us know the story about the nervous little chicken that feared the sky was falling because one day while he was walking in the forest, an acorn bonked him on the head.

He convinced some bird friends it was true, and they set off to tell their king that the sky was collapsing. It didn’t end well as a fox ate them all. So much for happy endings, huh?

Americans call the unfortunate chick Chicken Little,” or Chicken Licken. Those who speak English with King Charles’ accent call him Henny Penny. Nearly 200 years ago, a Danish version of the story called him Kylling Kluk.

Yelling “The Sky Is Falling”

I’ve been bonked on the head by a lot of things, but I don’t think an acorn was one of them. A couple of things hit me hard enough that I felt the sky was falling in my life, though.

I see many people scurrying around today, yelling that the sky is falling. Every time our side loses an election, it’s the end of life as we know it. Several years ago, I asked a wise friend his opinion about the results of a recent election. “I don’t think it’s terminal,” he said.

And so far, he’s been right.

Conspiracy theories gallop wildly through cyberspace, warning of sinister deep web plots to destroy the world and set up Bill Gates as king or some such. Who knows? They may be right.

And even if the sky isn’t falling, it might. There are some pretty nasty characters in charge of nuclear weapons in the world. Idiots careening down Bourbon street kill innocents. Plagues and dark diseases threaten us.

Christian Attitudes

Christians see the world and realize that a large percentage of its people couldn’t care less about God, or at least He’s an afterthought to what they deem the important things in their life.

That’s never a good sign. Life only works correctly if God is our center.

If we’re not careful, our attitude is to duck our head and pray for the Lord to come quickly. (I want the Lord to come quickly, but not simply to save us from problems. I want to be with Him eternally. I want the last act to finish and eternity with the Lord to begin).

And it’s not only some Christians who fear the sky is falling. I heard someone recently say that he felt like we’ve entered a new era, something has changed and not for the good.

Tough Times and Smiley Faces

Yes, life is tough and yes, the Bible says that perilous times will come in the last days.

But, it also says that Jesus sustains all things by His powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3). The Lord said He came to open the door to an abundant life for those who trust Him. He promised to meet all the needs of those who love Him by His riches in glory. He promised to forgive our sins. We are more than conquerors through Him.

Don’t Give Way To the Lemon-face Syndrome

So, while you’re sitting in your easy chair watching your favorite newscaster scream that the sky is falling, why not stop and look up? The Lord said He would never leave us or forsake us. In the midst of a dark world, God is moving in the earth.

We’re praying for revival? One of my French friends told me of a new openness among young people in France since COVID. Recently, revival broke out in a prayer time at Asbury Seminary and people streamed from all directions to be a part of it. Even the Washington Post reported on it.

Keep your eyes on what God is doing. Talk about that. Tune your ears to His promises and repeat them.

Or you can choose to be like Winnie the Pooh’s lemon-faced friend, Eeyore the Donkey.

He said, at various times: “I was so upset, I forgot to be happy… Could be worse. Not sure how, but it could be… Wish I could say yes, but I can’t… I never get my hopes up, so I never get let down.

“Don’t worry about me. Go and enjoy yourself. I’ll stay here and be miserable.”*

We Determine What We Focus On

*https://parade.com/1277210/kaigreen/eeyore-quotes/ ** Helen H. Lemmel,

The Giant That Nearly Killed David

It didn’t look good for King David. A gigantic man had cornered him and was moving in for the kill, and old David didn’t have any juice left. A few years ago, he could have taken his attacker, but now it looked like “game over,” when suddenly David’s cousin Abishai charged in and killed the giant, Ishbibenob.

You think I’m making this up? After all, David became famous for killing the giant, Goliath, when he was only a boy (1 Sam. 17:33). But, if you want to fact check me, look at 2 Samuel 21:15-17.

Why couldn’t “too old” David kill a giant like “too young” David had? God hadn’t changed.

Success At Each Stage of Life

We pass through different stages of our lives—culture defines some of these stages (childhood, young adult/marriage, children, middle age, seniors, etc.). And some of our giants disguise themselves as circumstances (trials, victories, everyday life).

The temptation is to rest on our laurels. Sometimes we have faith for the challenges of one life stage or trial, but never buckle down to confront the giants we meet in the next life battle.
Each stage of life and each circumstance trot out new challenges. All too often we win in one stage and fail in the next. But, just as the seasons in nature are necessary to life, so are these stages in our life. We may not like winter or the heat of summer, but there is a reason for them.

A New Stage

I’m dealing with the early stage of retirement.
I look in the mirror and see my father or my grandfather. “What are you doing there?” I’m tempted to say. “You’re supposed to be dead.” I see pictures of my family when the kids were all home and think, “That’s what I’m supposed to look like.”

I realize that I’m living in an incredibly important time of life. The temptation is to let my inward fire burn lower and lower until it’s extinguished in death. But, I would rather flame up in a forest fire in spiritual realms and make a difference by prayer, mentoring, and taking the opportunities before me. (And continuing to visit with you through Coffee Stains.)

The Bible is full of men and women that people expected to ride quietly into the sunset, but they continued to fulfill the reason God put them on the earth. Who would have seen an opportunity to evict an entrenched enemy in a lofty place, but young Jonathan and his armor bearer sparked a brilliant victory because they dared to walk in faith? God doesn’t need 30-year-old hands or good looks. He needs people like Jonathan who will seize the opportunity at whatever stage of life they appear.

Response to the Challenge

How do you respond to the challenge before you? Are you changing baby diapers or changing your own? Are you trying to understand a strange boss or struggling to comprehend and work with people 25 years younger than you are? Maybe you’re exulting in victory or aching through cancer treatment? Stages of life and trials … we’ve got to navigate these passages successfully.

The answer isn’t to mourn what’s lost and wail about the present. It’s not crying that others are the problem. It’s not laziness either, though you might find that you need more physical rest if you are ageing. (NAPS! Yes.)

Keep doing the things that helped you in other life stages or trials: prayer, God’s Word, fellowship with others who challenge you to grow, service. TRUST! The foundation has to be strong.

Walk Through Open Doors

I was playing dominos with an African American friend. When it was his turn to play, this army veteran stared at his dominos for a long time, searching for a solution for a poor hand. “C’mon.” I urged. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do what ‘do’ lets me do,” he said. The voice of experience.

The door we hoped would open doesn’t always open. They don’t ask you to do much anymore. Quit moping and “do what ‘do’ lets your do.” Go through the door that opens, even if it’s not the most glorious. David didn’t go out to battle anymore. That part of his life ended. But he had a more important role. He was “the lamp of Israel.”

When mamaw Deloney, Mrs. McDaniel my mother-in-law, and Daddy passed, they all left a hole in my life. They were important. When Daddy died, I felt like someone had jerked out a pillar from my life. Now, in a sense, I have to be to my family and friends what all these were to me.

Never lose that warrior spirit of faith, that spirit that will go after giants. Caleb was ready to battle those big guys at Hebron when he was 40. Forty-five years later, he looked up at that same fortified city and determined it was still his.

We preachers picture old Caleb, long white beard flowing in the wind, running up the hill, brandishing his sword and felling giants in the city. Forty-five-year-old Caleb might have done that, but it seems as if 85-year-old Caleb acted as a general, directing and inspiring his troops.

I suspect old Caleb had more wisdom than young Caleb, but both knew that the battle belonged to the Lord. The city fell before the old warrior and his men. God hadn’t changed in the 45 years between the time Moses gave the city to Caleb and the time the old fellow finally stormed into his inheritance.

Where are you in life now? What stage? In trials or blessings? God’s promise still rings true. His faithfulness stands rock solid. The Lord Jesus still plans to bless you. Look to Him and go forward.

“I Did It My Way”

There’s a beautiful ballad that irritates me: “My Way.”

Whether it’s Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley or Willie Nelson singing, it seems arrogant, like someone standing before the judge proclaiming his wonderfulness.

“And now the end is near, so I face the final curtain. My friend, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case of which I’m certain. I’ve lived a life that’s full. I’ve traveled each and every highway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way.”

Paul Anka wrote the English words for Frank Sinatra, who sang the song in 1969. It’s set to the music of the French song “Comme d’habitude” first performed in 1967 by Claude François. Seems like every crooner in the world has recorded it since.

We like to think “our way,” is pretty good, but would it shock you if I said that we’re not on earth to do it “our way?” I know we’re constantly hearing about “my dreams, my destiny, my vision, etc.” And that’s good with one qualifier:

Is your dream, the destiny you are pursuing, God’s plan for your life, or is it your desire for self-fulfillment? Are you carrying out the Master’s orders or are you polishing your own reputation, filling your own pockets and padding your own happiness?

You’re No Accident

You see, you aren’t an accident? Did God say, “Whoops! Dropped that one into life by accident,” when you were conceived? Did your mother slap her forehead when the test came back positive and say, “Oh, no! Not another one!” Did your father go into shock and mumble, “My wife’s too old to send her back to her mom and dad,”?

I can’t speak for your parents, but I’m certain that God didn’t goof up when He made you. He put you on earth for a reason. Yes, you.

God has a mission for your life? Yes, from your first wail in the delivery room ‘til your last breath. He entrusted you with a job to accomplish during your life.

So here’s the $24,000 question, “Are you carrying out the mission He created you for or are you simply doing life ‘your way?’”

What Is Wrong With this Picture

I’ve enjoyed playing with Microsoft’s image generator. It can screw up your directions, though. I asked it for an image of Jesus washing a young man’s feet and it spit out the one above. I was a bit put off, but then I realized the machine had accidentally gotten it right.

Our mission is to serve the Lord Jesus. He said that when we ministered to the least of his brothers—the poor, the hungry, the prisoners–we did it to Him. We can wash the Lord’s feet, serve Him, by serving each other!

His Way! The Lord has a “way” for your life. We should make a song of Jeremiah’s lyrics:

“La parole de l’Éternel me fut adressée, en ces mots:

5 Avant que je t’eusse formé dans le ventre de ta mère, je te connaissais, et avant que tu fusses sorti de son sein, je t’avais consacré, je t’avais établi prophète des nations.

” (Jer. 1: 4, 5)

Now, most of us aren’t called to be a prophet to the nations or a pastor or a missionary.

What is our mission? Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. A disciple should be like his Master. Am I sharing the Good News of Jesus with others? Eternal life is at stake for each person.

The first commandment is to love God with everything you are, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. What am I doing to worship God? What am I doing to serve others?

If we love the Lord with all our hearts, there’s a good chance that our dreams will be synonymous with His mission for our life. He told us that if we delighted ourselves in Him, He would give us the desires of our heart.

Here are some things you can consider when thinking about God’s mission for your life and His specific direction for you.

“Tes oreilles entendront derrière toi la voix qui dira: Voici le chemin, marchez-y! Car vous iriez à droite, ou vous iriez à gauche.” (Isa. 30:21, NLT)

“8 Que toute la terre craigne l’Éternel! Que tous les habitants du monde tremblent devant lui!

9 Car il dit, et la chose arrive; Il ordonne, et elle existe.” (Psalm 33:8, 9, )

“3 Recommande à l’Éternel tes oeuvres, Et tes projets réussiront.” (Proverbs 16:4, )

My way? According to Helen Brown, writing in the Financial Times, “As it became his signature song Sinatra grew to loathe it, forced to stand before his adoring audience and expose the ugly truth about his aggressive disregard for the thoughts and feelings of other people. ‘He was,’ says his daughter Tina, ‘a man who all his life looked outside for what was missing inside.’” (Financial Times online, Feb. 20, 2017)

My way? I prefer Matt Redman’s words:

“King of endless worth, no one could express how much You deserve. Though I’m weak and poor, all I have is Yours, every single breath. I’ll bring You more than a song, for a song in itself is not what You have required. You search much deeper within, through the way things appear. You’re looking into my heart, yeah, I’m comin’ back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You It’s all about You, Jesus.” (Song: The Heart of Worship by Matt Redman)

Raising Heaven

Until I was about 12, my parents didn’t go to church. On Sunday mornings, my mom’s mom, Mamaw Deloney, insisted that they bring me, my sister, and my brother to her house, which was six miles away. She and Granddad took us to services.

Mama and daddy would come to pick us up and eat lunch. Often I stayed over and went to church with my grandparents on Sunday evening. That led to a memory that branded my childhood.

Granddad would often go outside to stretch his legs after the Sunday afternoon football game on television (one game for the whole day!) Mamaw took advantage of the quiet to slip away to her fortress of solitude, her bedroom. There she prayed and prepared her heart for the Sunday evening service.

Often I would still be in the living room as I heard Mamaw “raising heaven” in the back bedroom. If I get still, I can still feel the power and urgency of those prayers as my grandmother spoke with the One she loved so fervently. Her prayers not only touched heaven, they also touched and changed me.

I have hundreds of memories of this remarkable little country lady—apple pie, fried chicken, stories, hugs, etc—but those prayers hover near the top of the list.

I wonder what my grandchildren will remember about me.

Heaven-raising Prayers

Mamaw’s prayers were fervent, not just loud. I’ve heard people thunder prayers that shook the dust out of the rafters, but I’m not sure heaven listened. Samuel’s mother prayed and only her lips moved (1 Samuel 1:13). Still, a remarkable son resulted from her praying. Loud or quiet, the prayer that moves heaven is full of heart, heat, and faith.

“The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” (James 5:16 AMPC)

Prayers that raise heaven ache for what they ask for. If you’ve got an answer figured out or you don’t really care if God answers your prayer or not, why should He care? This poses a problem because we’re asked to pray for a ton of people and situations and many of them we don’t know. How can you feel your prayers in that case?

Sometimes I try to put myself in the person’s place asking prayer. What if that was my son or daughter? What if I faced death?

The other secret weapon that God gives to help us care is the Holy Spirit. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Rom. 8:26-28, ESV)

A third principle of prayer that succeeds is an “I’m-going-to-have-this-or-else” attitude. I love Jesus’ story of the little lady dealing with the crooked judge. She had faith that this scoundrel was going to help her or he would wish he had. And he did.

Now, God wants to answer your prayer, but he also wants to develop an attitude of faith and persistence in you. That attitude will serve you as well as an answered prayer, because you learn not to quit. Here’s how faith prays:

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭7, 8‬ ‭NLT)

Do Your Prayers Raise Heaven?

When your kids and grandkids think back on you, what will they remember? Will they remember you raising heaven or raising something else?

Get busy making memories for the generations who follow you. And get some prayer results yourself while you are at it.

Image: Bing AI