GROWING IN HOLINESS

ELDER GOH CHONG ANN

Paul exhorts the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7:1 to “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” How are we to bring “holiness to completion”?

“Holiness is a process, something we never completely attain in this life. Rather, as we begin to conform to the will of God in one area of life, He reveals to us our need in another area. That is why we will always be pursuing – as opposed to attaining – holiness in this life.” said Jerry Bridges, in his book, “The Pursuit of Holiness”.

The fact is that holiness is what we achieve and are achieving as we are sanctified, upon our conversion. But, what exactly is “holiness”? To be holy is to be morally blameless. It is to be separated from sin and consecrated to God. To live a holy life is therefore to live a life in conformity to the moral precepts of the Bible and in contrast to the sinful ways of the world. Yet, we all experience varying degrees of failure to live holy lives. Why is this so? Jerry Bridges offers 3 reasons:

Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centred than God-centred. We are more concerned about our own “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. But God wants us to walk in obedience – not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God whereas victory is oriented toward self. We need to realize that victory is a by-product of obedience. As we concentrate on living an obedient, holy life, we will then experience the joy of victory over sin.

Our second problem is that we have misunderstood “living by faith” (Gal 2:20) to mean that no effort at holiness is required on our part. The fact is that we have a personal responsibility for our walk of holiness. Living by faith does not mean leaving everything to God. We fail to understand the distinction between God’s provision and our own responsibility for holiness. What am I to do myself, and what am I to rely on God to do? Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue holiness, for without holiness, no one will see the Lord.” The word “pursue” suggests that diligence and effort are required.

The third problem is that we do not take some sin seriously. We have mentally categorized sins into that which is acceptable and that which may be tolerated a bit. This is therefore really about full obedience and partial obedience, which was what confronted Adam and Eve. Is the Lord to be obeyed in all things whatsoever He commands? Are we willing to call sin “sin” not because it is big or small, but because God’s law forbids it? We cannot categorize sin if we are to live a life of holiness.

Don’t just pray for holiness; we need to diligently put in effort. Don’t pray for victory; pray for obedience. We need to settle these problems in our hearts before we can really begin “growing in holiness”.