What is holiness...
When we talk of holiness, we must be very explicit about what we mean, for as Pascal warns, "experience shows us an enormouse difference between piety and goodness." Perhaps you've noticed this difference in your interaction with other Christians. We feel God's redeeming love and grace when we get together with some believers. Their holiness is a warm hearth, a shelter that invites us to come in from the cold. Even though we sense an underlying strength that tells us sin and manipulation are not acceptable in their presence - and this can be somewhat fearful - we still find ourselves drawn to them.
There are others whose holiness seems to be a prison. It is forced, uncomfortable,and ragged at the edges. The biting edge of accusation and judgment pushes us away from them. When they talk about sin, their voices seem marked by fear, not understanding and wisdom.
The spiritual fathers taught that true holiness has at its root an overwhelming passion for the one true and holy God, not for rules, principles, or standards. This holiness is relational. Fenelon wrote, "It is not by fussiness that we become faithful and exact in the smallest things. It is by a feeling of love, which is free from the reflections and fears of the anxious and scrupulous. We are as though carried away by the love of God. We only want to do what we are doing, and we do not want to do anything at all which we are not doing. At the same time that God, jealous, urges the soul, presses it relentlessly in the least details, and seems to withdraw all liberty from it, it finds itself free, and it enjoys a profound peace in him."
"Most of us are tempted to think that change has taken place before it actually has. We confuse growth in knowledge and insight with genuine life change. But insight is not change and knowledge should not be confused with practical, active, biblical wisdom... In short, we must not confuse insight and change. Insight is a beginning, a part of the whole, but it is not the whole. We do want people to see, know, and understand, but we also want them to apply that insight to their daly life. God opens our eyes so that, in seeing him, we would follow him more closely. This means that personal ministry should not end too soon.If holiness is God's goal, we must be willing to help others through the process of change."
-Paul Tripp Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands p. 243
-Paul Tripp Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands p. 243
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