sort of.
A question came up during adult sunday school yesterday regarding holiness. If we can never obtain holiness, what's the point of striving for it? Well, because the bible says so, and that should be good enough. Right?
Let me tell you........I gave up striving for it a few years back. That's right.......and it has brought me closer to God. I had lunch with a buddy a few months ago and we were talking about struggles and I told him I'm no longer pursuing holiness.
His eyes got huge. whaaaa? Immedialey he quoted scripture..."be holy as I am holy!" Then I said, whoa, wait.....I've decided to pursue God instead.
You see, I don't think it is striving to be holy that pleases or draws us closer to God, rather, it is in striving to be closer to God we find ourselves moving toward holiness. The more our heart desires God, the more it squeezes out the junk that separates us from Him. And I'm not talking about legalistic ideals of holiness, I'm talking about stuff that really matters.
I used to beat myself up over the many struggles and shortcomings I had...and then, over a period of time, I realized God was more interested in me, in loving and forgiving me, than I was. And that changed the object of my pursuit. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
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5 comments:
HR, I too spent too much of my life "beating up on myself" over the holiness issue. You have succinctly and with real clarity stated exactly what we must do --strive to get ever closer to God, getting rid of the junk that keeps us apart. Great post. BTW, the previous post was for the birds. Ha!
That is just right. All the things we're supposed to be, the fruits we're supposed to bear, the ways we're supposed to grow -- stop striving for them. Strive with single-minded and -hearted purpose to grow closer to God. He will then give you all those other things, and take away all the rest. And this lets of so much pressure -- you know, that pressure you feel when you try to do something you can't do anyway because you don't really have what it takes.
I'm not sure why this isn't preached in more pulpits....Christians would lead happier lives, I'm sure.
It's crazy how if we just focus on God than the other things just start to fall in place...
thanks for your comments on my blog!
phil,
thanks for stopping by the site...anyone involved in youth ministry has my utmost respect and condolences!
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