Jeff Carter
I thought this month we might take a brief break from our journey through church history to take a peek into a book I’ve been reading. Now I know many of you will tell me this is a modern day Christian classic, and ask how it is I have neglected reading it until now. While unfortunate, this is the case. I just happened upon “The Pursuit of Holiness,” by Jerry Bridges and I am thoroughly enjoying it. For me it is somewhat paradigm shifting. So much so, that I thought I would simply reprint for you some of my highlights.
I am a highlighter and underliner when I read. So here are some of the marked up sections in my copy—with a few comments and reactions by me. For those who are ready for a serious pursuit of holiness, this book is a very welcome primer and motivator, and has forcefully joined my list of yearly books to come back to time and again.
As I imagine it is for many of you, there have been seasons where my “dabbling” in the pursuit of holiness, merged over for a while into what could be considered an actual pursuit. But those times are too infrequent. This book really hit me at the right time, and I hope it will inspire you, as it has me, to make this pursuit a consistent way of life. Here are some quotes:
“The word pursue suggests two thoughts: first, that diligence and effort are required; and second, that it is a life-long task” (Preface, p. 12).
While being somewhat obvious (as many profound truths are), this is a great reminder that there is a partnership in the process of sanctification. It is a synergistic work between God and man (unlike justification and glorification—which are monergistic). Holiness will not happen without our persistent and intentional effort.
“God wants us to walk in obedience—not victory (p.18)
I know this may rub some the wrong way, but as he goes on to say, victory is self-focused; but obedience is God-focused. He says that we need to look at sin as an offense against a holy God, not just as a personal defeat only. More to come on this…
Chapter six was one of my favorites. A few highlights from chapter 6:
“The heart is also deceitful. It excuses, rationalizes, and justifies our actions. It blinds us to entire areas of sin in our lives. It causes us to deal with sin using only halfway measures, or to think that mental assent to the Word of God is the same as obedience.”
“One of [Satan’s] chief weapons is discouragement…if he can make us discouraged and dispirited, we will not fight the battle for holiness.”
“…indwelling sin largely works through our desires…if you give in to temptation, it will be because desire has overcome reason in the struggle to influence your will.”
“We are drawn away from watchfulness by overconfidence.”
“We are often drawn away from obedience by the abuse of grace.”
“…we must never consider that our fight against sin is at an end.”
“Holiness is not a series of do’s and don’ts, but conformity to the character of God and obedience to the will of God” (p.60)
Sometimes we can think that doing the do’s and avoiding the don’ts is what holy living is all about. This is what happens when we are aiming for “the victorious Christian life.” But holiness is not about personal victory. It is not a contest. It does not involve a tally sheet. Holiness is plainly and simply about living in obedience to God; being Christ-like in our character; and accurately reflecting His image to the world. It is about the holiness of God, not about personal triumph.
“Only as we reckon…that I am dead to sin and its reign over me and that I am alive to God, united to Him who strengthens me—can I keep sin from reigning in my mortal body” (p.61).
I don’t know about you, but this truth has had a hard time penetrating my thick skull. What does it really and practically mean that I am dead to sin? He goes on to quote Martin Lloyd Jones who says that to realize this truth removes the sense of hopelessness we all have when it comes to our battle with sin. He says that we lose that hopelessness because we fully understand that we are no longer under the dominion of sin, but we are under the dominion of another power that nothing can frustrate—the power of God working within us. He further explains a practical way to make this happen:
“To count on the fact that we are dead to sin and alive to God is something we must do actively. To do it we must form the habit of continually realizing that we are dead to sin and alive to God” (p.62).
Since our propensity to sin is really all about habits we have as vestiges of our fallen nature. Replacing those with new habits is an eminently concrete and useful handle for me to grab onto in my search for attainable milestones and tools and methods for going about this highest (and often most frustrating) of pursuits.
“Only one who has a strong desire to be holy will ever persevere in the painfully slow and difficult task of pursuing holiness. There are too many failures. The habits of our old nature and the attacks of Satan are too strong for us to persevere unless the Holy Spirit is at work in us to create a desire for holiness.”
This is a powerful statement. But where does this desire for holiness come from? For me, it is only through desperation—through the frustration of failure after failure that drives me to cry out, “Enough!” And it is only through a vision of the holiness of God that serves as a beacon beckoning me toward it. It is not fear of punishment. It is not the quest for victory over sin and my own selfish desires. It is only through seeing God’s love of holiness, and a picture of His purity—coupled with my desire to please Him, and sadness over what havoc sin has wreaked on my heart, that I finally begin to abhor my sin and selfishness to the point that they are fully repugnant to me. This is where the desire comes for me.
“No one overcomes the corruptions of his heart except by the enabling strength of the Spirit of God…We express our dependence on the Holy Spirit for a holy life in two ways. The first is through a humble and consistent intake of the scriptures…the second way we express our dependence on the Spirit is to pray for holiness” (p.66).
Again, more practical (if not obvious) tools for approaching this pursuit. Bridges previously highlights the fact that the Holy Spirit creates this desire for holiness in us not only by showing us our sins, but by showing us God’s standard of holiness. But how does He do this? Again, another obvious truth—through the scriptures. I say these are obvious because they are self-evident—yet we still sometimes miss them. Why do we neglect such clear and prominent injunctions? We sometimes feel compelled to spend time in the Word through guilt. We know we should spend quiet time with God. I don’t know about you, but guilt is not a very powerful motivator for me. What if we looked at our daily quiet time not as something I should do, but something we need to do? “Oh Lord, I know I cannot make it through this day without first spending time with you, and re-orienting my thoughts and desires on to the things of You.” That is a motivation that can inspire me.
Well, we will need to save the nuggets gleaned from the second half of the book for another day. This is a bit of self-indulgence for me…to share the blessings I have experienced from this reading with you. I hope it might spark in you a desire to jump into this wonderful study.
-Jeff
UCI Book Table
If you are able, please consider joining us at the book table on Fridays on the campus of UCI. It is a great opportunity to have “God-conversations” with students and plant seeds for the cause of Christ. Please contact Hilliary for more information at adminasst@hadavar.org.