The Pursuit of Holiness

As I’ve been arranging books on my new shelves, I’ve been unable to resist looking through several of them on the way. Picking up a previously-read book is like visiting an old friend. Old memories are shared, and past conversations are repeated. The memories are not always good, but the sharing usually is.

Such was the case when I spied a couple of bookmarks left behind in The Pursuit of holiness by Jerry Bridges, a book I read last year, but never blogged. At the first bookmark, this old friend brought me a Proverbs 27:6 moment.

How do we view those who do not show love for us? Do we see them as persons for whom Christ died or as persons who make our lives difficult?
   I recall an unpleasant business encounter once with a person who later became a Christian through another’s witness. When I learned of this, I was deeply chagrined to reflect on the fact that I had never once thought of him as a person for whom Christ died, but only as someone with whom I had an unpleasant experience. We need to learn to follow the example of Christ, who was moved with compassion for sinners and who could pray for them even as they nailed him to the cross on Calvary.

—Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (NavPress, 2003), 62–63.

I’m guessing that few among us won’t be convicted by those words. God grant us the grace to love as he loved.

Would you believe that the failure of Christians to achieve victory over sin is caused by their desire and efforts to achieve victory over sin? I know, the suggestion smacks of quietism, the “let go and let God” mindset that should be quickly discarded as the pseudo-spiritual rubbish it is. But stay with me; the point is not to dismiss the desire for victory as wrong, but to examine our motivation. Our motives for defeating sin can actually be sinful. Jerry Bridges explains this paradox:

If holiness, then, is so basic to the Christian life, why do we not experience it more in daily living? Why do so many Christians feel constantly defeated in their struggle with sin? Why does the Church of Jesus Christ so often seem to be more conformed to the world around it than to God?
   At the risk of oversimplification, the answers to these questions can be grouped into three basic problem areas.
   Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God centered. We are more concerned about our “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God.
   W. S. Plumer said, “We never see sin aright until we see it as against God. . . . All is sin against God in this sense: that it is His law that is broken, His authority that is despised, His government that is set at naught. . . . Pharaoh and Balaam, Saul and Judas each said, ‘I have sinned’; but the returning prodigal son said, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before thee’; and David said, ‘Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned.’”
   God wants us to act in obedience—not victory. Obedience it oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there is a subtle, self centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we face this attitude and deal with it we will not consistently walk in holiness.
   This is not to say that God does not want us to experience victory, but rather to emphasize that victory is a byproduct of obedience. As we concentrate on living an obedient, holy life, we will certainly experience the joy of victory over sin.

—Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (NavPress, 2003), 21–23.

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.

Jerry Bridges on why our feelings are not a good guide, and what we should do about it:

   Not only must we guard our minds, we must also guard our emotions. To do this, it is helpful to realize that while God most often appeals to our wills through our reason, sin and Satan usually appeal to us through our desires. This is the strategy he employed with Eve (Genesis 3:1-6). He attacked her reason by questioning God’s integrity, but his primary temptation was to her desire. We read that Eve saw the tree was good for food, it was a delight to the eyes, and desirable for making one wise (Genesis 3:6).
   Knowing that Satan attacks primarily through our desires, we should watch over them diligently and bring the Word of God to bear on them constantly. This is not asceticism; it is spiritual prudence. Each of us should be aware of how sin attacks us through our desires and take preventive actions. This is what Paul instructed Timothy to do when he instructed him to “flee from the evil desires of youth” (2 Timothy 2:22).
   But the guarding of our desires is more than fighting a rear-guard defensive action against temptations from the world, the flesh, and the Devil. We must take the offensive. Paul directs us to set our hearts on things above, that is, spiritual values (Colossians 3:1). The psalmist encourages us to delight ourselves in the law of God (Psalm 1:2), and it was said prophetically of Jesus, “I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8, NASB). So we see that we are to set our minds on spiritual things and delight ourselves in the law and will of God.

—Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (NavPress, 2003), 174–175.