The Price Few Will Pay
Drawn from the teaching of Professor Gary S. Maxey · 2 min read
If deeper cleansing is a promise of God for every believer, why do so few seem to receive it? Professor Gary Maxey gives a direct answer in his book on the Highway of Holiness.
The flesh does not want to die
The message of deliverance, he writes, is inherently counter to sinful human nature. Obtaining this blessing is humbling and at times costly. The fleshly nature within us does not want to be exposed. Once discovered, it fights for survival and definitely does not want to die. Regrettably, many are unwilling to pay the price God asks.
What the price looks like
The cost he describes is mostly relational and reputational. He lists a willingness to be underrated and underappreciated, to be misunderstood without complaining, to be graciously demoted, to take correction without arguing back and to serve meekly under the leadership of a former student.
Few people pray for those things. They are the ordinary forms of death to self.
A deeper consecration
The price also includes consecration. Professor Maxey says we yield ourselves entirely to God in a deeper surrender than we knew at new birth. We forsake everything that could draw us from his will, and that includes legitimate things. He asks readers whether they have allowed the Holy Spirit to make demands no human being could make.
The special danger of the educated
Professor Maxey is blunt about his own world. Seminaries and places of learning, he says, are places with special pitfalls. Bible study and prayer can become intellectual instead of a matter of the heart. Learning often opens a door to greater human pride, and pride is probably the greatest hindrance to spiritual growth and revival.
If you are a pastor, a student or a teacher, this may be written for you.
Where faith enters
The price is not earned by suffering. It is paid by yielding. Professor Maxey says the deeper cleansing is received by faith, growing out of total surrender and absolute consecration. We cannot do the work. We can stop resisting it.
A final honest question
What is the one thing you would hate to lose if God asked for it? A position, a reputation, a relationship, a right to be right. Write it down and take it to him this week. You do not have to feel ready. You only have to be willing to begin.
Drawn from the teaching of Professor Gary S. Maxey.
