The Calvary Road #5 – The Highway of Holiness

The prophet Isaiah paints an inviting picture of the Christian journey: “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it” (Isaiah 35:8).

This is not a highway for sightseers. This is a highway for those who are really hungry for God, for those willing to climb upward and onward to know real friendship with God.

The only entrance to this Highway of Holiness is up the small dark, forbidding hill of Calvary. At the top of the hill stands the Cross.

At the foot of the Cross is a low door, so low that to get through it one has to stoop and crawl through. This door is called the Door of the Broken Ones.

Only the broken can enter the Highway. To be broken means “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Our proud, stiff-necked “I” bows its head in surrender to God and what he wants.

On the Highway of Holiness: No more “I did it my way”. No hardness of heart. No unyielding will. No overreactions. No irritable or envious attitude. No controlling or critical spirit. No resentful and unforgiving heart. No impurity. No demanding rights. No claiming time, money, possessions, or position.

On the Highway of Holiness: Christ living and reigning in me. Close fellowship with God. Freedom from condemnation and sin. Wounds healed. Real purpose in life. Connecting with fellow travelers. Experiencing peace that the world cannot give. Fulfilling God’s mission. Receiving the Father’s love. Knowing Christ. Being filled with the Spirit.

At the foot of the Cross God shows us what real brokenness is. We see Christ’s wounded hands and feet, the face of love crowned with thorns.

We see the complete brokenness of the One who prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42) as he drank the bitter cup of our sins to the dregs.

So the way to be broken is to look upon him and realize it was our sins that nailed him there. We see the love and brokenness of the God who died in our place. Our hearts are melted and broken before him. He speaks to our soul: “This have I done for you. What have you done for me?”

The prayer God is swift to answer on this Highway of Holiness: “Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me. Melt me. Mold me. Use me.”

~ Pastor Dave