Still just following the bookmarks left behind from my reading of The Pursuit of Holiness last year.
It is time for us Christians to face up our responsibility for holiness. Too often we say we are “defeated” by this or that sin. No, we are not defeated; we are simply disobedient! It might be good if we stopped using the terms “victory” and “defeat” to describe our progress in holiness. Rather we should use the terms “obedience” and “disobedience”. When I say I am defeated by some sin, I am unconsciously slipping out from under my responsibility. I am saying something outside of me has defeated me. But when I say I am disobedient, that places the responsibility for my sin squarely on me. We may, in fact, be defeated, but the reason we are defeated is because we have chosen to disobey. We have chosen to entertain lustful thoughts, or the harbor resentment, or to shade the truth a little.
We need to brace ourselves up and to realize that we are responsible for our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. We need to reckon on the fact that we died to sin’s reign, that it no longer has any dominion over us, that God has united us with the risen Christ in all His power, and has given us the Holy Spirit to work in us. Only as we accept our responsibility and appropriate God’s provisions will we make any progress in our pursuit of holiness.—Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (NavPress, 2003), 112–113.
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4 Comments:
#1 || 10·06·24··07:11 || Marla
I sometimes have trouble understanding what "appropriating God's provisions" looks like practically speaking. Does he elaborate on that?
#2 || 10·06·24··10:41 || David
At the beginning of the chapter, he writes, “God’s provision for us consists in delivering us from the reign of sin, uniting us with Christ, and giving us the indwelling Holy Spirit to reveal sin, to create a desire for holiness, and to strengthen us in our pursuit of holiness” (107). It’s been a while since I read the book, but I believe the previous chapters deal with that in more detail.
#3 || 10·06·24··10:42 || David
I’m sorry, I guess that quote pretty much just says the same thing as the conclusion to the excerpt above.
I think the point is to acknowledge that we have already been given everything we need, and so to stop making excuses as though there is still some necessary resource lacking.
#4 || 10·06·24··20:09 || Marla
That's great encouragement. I need to be reminded of that almost daily. The flesh is so weak sometimes...but then that too is part of it--realizing that we have no strength apart from Him.
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