Monthly Archives: July 2009

I recommend The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges.  I first read this book in high school and it helped me take active steps toward being holy.  Now I am encouraging my high school students to read it and praying it will do the same for them.

- Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

Verses like this make it very clear we should be striving for holiness.  Sadly, many Christians don’t seem to be making much effort at all.  I constantly hear about how it seems like an unattainable standard.  After all, we are only human.  Here’s one way that Bridges addresses this issue:

“But God demands more than that we acknowledge His holiness.  He says to us, “Be holy because I am holy.”  God rightfully demands perfect holiness in all of His moral creatures.  It cannot be otherwise.  He cannot possibly ignore or approve of any evil committed.  He cannot for one moment relax His perfect standard of holiness. Rather He must say, as He does say, “So be holy in all you do” (

, emphasis added).”

As Christians, we refer to God as our Heavenly Father.  Usually we associate this with his love and kindness.  But

says that we should be obedient children.  If he is our father, then we should do what he says.  We should want to be like him. In this case, that means following the example of his holiness and pursuing it ourselves.

I know that as long as we are alive, our sanctification will be a fight, but we need to be fighting.  The question we need to ask ourselves is “What am I doing today to be holy?”  Like it says in

we need to train ourselves to be godly.  As athletes are committed to exercise, so we need to be working out our salvation in practical ways.

Reading The Pursuit of Holiness will get you headed in the direction of being holy.  If you need a copy I have a few in my office or you can get it at the bookstore at church.

Let me know what you think about the book and what you are doing today to be holy like our Heavenly Father is!