The Pursuit of Holiness

Only God can make crops grow. But the farmer cannot expect a harvest unless he plants his fields. Jerry Bridges likens this to the Christian’s joint venture with God in The Pursuit of Holiness.

Bridges begins with the holiness of God and why we as Christians are to follow suit. He maintains that the lack of holiness in the Christian’s life is not due to inability, thanks the the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, but disobedience. He then expounds on how we are to put off the old self in chapters dealing with personal discipline, the body, the spirit, the will, habits, and faith.

Bridges does more than just tell us what to do. If we were honest, most of us know what we should do. He takes it a step further and gives the reader practical steps he can take in the putting off of the old self. For right-brained people who prefer to live in the abstract—like myself—this is immensely valuable. Sometimes it’s helpful to have someone tell you how to get from Point A to Point B.

But this is more than a how-to book. The book is filled with Scriptural references. And Bridges repeatedly points out that the Christian cannot expect to become more like Christ unless we are daily submitting ourselves to Him through reading the Word and through prayer.

The first book by Jerry Bridges that I read was Respectable Sins. I was immediately blessed by the teaching of Jerry Bridges. Now I am even more so.

This review originally appeared on my previous blog in 2008. This post contains affiliate links.