The Pursuit of Holiness: Conviction and Responsibility

Colossians 3:5 "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly
nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is
idolatry."

I am reading such a wonderful book! I am on chapter 10 of Jerry Bridges' The Pursuit of Holiness. I knew from the first page that I had found a convicting and truthful read about holiness. In the forward, the book tells us that even our beloved Declaration of Independence tells us that one of our unalienable rights is "the pursuit of happiness." If we are Christians, we are not to actively seek our own happiness. We are to seek God, His will and have a lifelong pursuit for holiness. I Peter 1:15 tells us "Be holy, for I am holy." As Christians, we are countercultural indeed.

Bridges tells us over and over that, "God has made provision for our holiness and He has also given us a responsibility for it." (77) He provided Christ, the forgiveness of all our sin, and gave us the Holy Spirit to reveal sin, promote a desire for holiness and and strengthen us as we fight sin. In addition, he has provided His Word to spell out His will, His laws and His truths.

Our responsibility lies in responding in obedience and using God's tools to put our sinful desires to death. Bridges uses many verses to prove this point. Here are a couple: Colossians 3:5 says, "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature." Hebrews 12:1 urges, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everthing that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

One way we can effectively feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit and put to death the sins we commit repeatedly is by reading God's Word. Bridges points out that our minds are "accustomed to the world's values." (85) We are hit with such things as ads, radio, billboards, newspaper articles, and friends who all espouse worldly wisdom and entice us into sinful desires. We must combat this with God's values. We need to be in the Word daily. We need to memorize His Word so it is ready for us in the battle of temptation. We can renew our minds and reprogram what bombards us all day from the world. Bridges points out that even the kings of Israel were told to be in the Word they had "all the days of (their) life(s)" so that they could learn about holiness and God's specific instructions. (Deuteronomy 17:19)

I loved the next section of the chapter, where Bridges talks about discerning whether an activity, which is not specifically mentioned in scripture, is holy or potentially sinful. He gives 4 questions, based on I Corinthians, to ask about the activity:

1. "'Everything is permissible for me'--but not everything is beneficial" (I Cor. 6:12) Question 1: Is it helpful--physically, spiritually and mentally?

2. "'Everything is permissible for me'--but I will not be mastered by anything" (I Corinthians 6:12) Question 2: Does it bring me under its power?

3. "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall" (I Cor. 8:13). Question 3: Does it hurt others?

4. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31). Question 4: Does it glorify God?

If we ask ourselves these questions honestly, we certainly will feel freedom in acting or conviction and desire to stop.

The end of the chapter discussed our desires to sin less and less as incorrect. Rather, he hopes we all aim to NOT sin, rather than accepting "a little" sin to be okay. We know that we will sin on earth, but our aim and goal is telling of our commitment to holiness. He compares it to a soldier in battle who aims to only get hit by gunfire "a little". How silly! That soldier better make his goal to stay away from that gunfire! We seem to all drag our feet a bit when we desire something sinful: one more look before I turn it off or put it down, one more glutonous meal before I buckle down on my diet, and just one more T.V. show or e-mail before I go do my Bible study. We need to make sincere resolutions to be HOLY. It is a long and hard battle, lasting this lifetime, so let's earnestly get started!