Jerry Bridges The Pursuit Of Holiness

Michaela Hensley (Box # 1099)

HUMN 1100-05

September 8, 2014

The Pursuit of Holiness Everyone has his or her own definition of what holiness means. Some might say that refraining from cursing and other bad habits means you’re holy while others say that being holy, means being “morally blameless” (Bridges p.15) Sometimes we become so focused on following all of the rules and regulations that we forget that no one is perfect except God. Jerry Bridges tells us multiple times through out the book that us Christians need to lead a holier life. Today’s world is full of sins, rebellion and hate, which makes living a holy life even harder. Many think that to be holy we have to be perfect in all of the areas in our life, which isn’t the case at

We need to step out of our sin and truly walk with God. Like the book states, “we are commanded to assume our responsibility for a holy walk (Bridges p.78) If someone commits a sin they usually find an excuse or rationalize to make themselves not feel as bad because our “heart is deceitful. It excuses, rationalizes and justifies our actions.” (Bridges 61) This book not only tells us that we need to live better and holier lives but the author tells us what we can do to achieve that. He gives examples and personal experiences to show that even he makes mistakes

If you’ve ever heard the saying, “fall seven times, stand up eight” it applies to this situation. We are always going to make mistakes and fail but God is always there to help us stand up again and get our lives on the right path. After each failure we begin to see the progress that we are making and we can really see a difference in our life. We need to remember “there is no place for laziness and indulgence of the body in a disciplined pursuit of holiness.” (Bridges p.111) Today’s world is full of selfish people but we need to detach from them and put God first instead of ourselves. “The essence of sin is self-interest” (Dennis Kenlaw, The mind of Christ