The Pursuit of Holiness

The Pursuit of Holiness is a rich book that provides the Christian with an accurate view of holiness and points out the fact that holiness is not an option. Jerry Bridges, the author of the book, focuses the Christians attention on the importance of a holy life. This holy life is not a life that acclimates to the people around, but pursues the holiness of God, which is exactly what the Apostle Peter communicates in his epistle chapter one verse 16;

"You shall be holy, for I AM holy"

This verse is actually a quote from Leviticus 11:44, and yes that means that the Old Testament is important because apart for the OT we would not fully comprehend the New Testatment.

So how does a Christian pursue holiness?

Crunch Time

March 15

Well, the time has come to take a break from my studies. I need to clear my mind because tonight is going to be a late night. Over the past ten months, approximately, I have been attending University of Phoenix via the Internet. I have definitely enjoyed my classes. The learning environment could be better, but the class discussions have been helpful and challenging.

In the next 16 hours I plan on finishing two Power Point presentations and an eight page paper. Obviously this may sound like a great deal of work, but the past eight weeks have built up to this point. That is why I have titled this post "Crunch Time".

In the past weeks I have learned a great deal about how to overcome Procrastination and how to effectively manage my time. So how does a person overcome procrastination and effectively manage his or her time? I would say that the discipline is the key, but how can we be discipline, what is our motivation? I am confident that a person that is able to apply the text in first Corinthians will be a person of great discipline.

"Therefore whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God".

The application of living for the glory of God. What is the glory that Paul is talking about? Why should we "do all to the glory of God"? I will discuss that in a later post. For now realize that God's glory is our highest aim.

Time to get back to work.

The Importance of Application

March 03

In the past month our pastor has start a two year program to train men to be servant leaders. Last month we (a group of 10 men) read through R.C. Sproul's book "Knowing Scripture". This book was not only insightful, but also easy to read. R.C. challenges his readers to stop being slothful and lazy about studying scripture and begin to cultivate a healthy habit of studying the Word of God. R.C. provides helpful hints to help a layman, like myself, to interpret scripture correctly. I heartily recommend reading this book to any person who desires to begin, find refreshment in and encouragement in, studying the Word.

To switch gears, the group is currently reading through a book by Daniel Doriani. The book is titled "Putting the Truth to Work: The Theory and Practice of Biblical Application". This book is a scholarly work and is a bit difficult to read, but sitting down and purposing to understand the goal of application, and how to apply scripture correctly is well worth the time and effort.

So what is the main goal of application is to "Know God and conform ourselves to Him". The scripture that Doriani uses is Jeremiah 9:23-24 which states that our lives need to be God-centered, the verses say,

"This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom or the strong man boast in his strength or the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts in this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises, kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord."(emphasis added)

Many Christians know the truth of these verses, but do not act as if this was not the center of application (Doriani, 2001). Understanding and knowing the Lord is what every Christian must boast in and nothing less.