The Chase

When I was in Bible College I was introduced to a great book by Jerry Bridges called The Pursuit of Holiness. It is a simple straight-forward book on the journey of holiness. To my delight the book has been re-written for youth and is entitled, The Chase. Bridges opens with an illustration of a farmer who works hard but is completely reliant on forces outside of himself. This is the premise of The Chase, God has a part and so do we.

“Chasing after holiness is like that. Holiness is something we need God to do, yet on the flip side we need to some of the work ourselves. If God isn’t present, true holiness can’t be present. Yet if we rely solely on God and don’t put any effort into ourselves, holiness isn’t possible either.” (p. 9)

He goes even further when he says,

“Maybe you’ve even heard the phrase that says Christians have “power over sin.”
… the Holy Spirit gives us power to overcome sin we encounter all the time. Sometimes, though we see this as a “silver bullet” solution. It’s easy to think that we don’t have to change anything to defeat the sin in our lives. We think we can go on living our lives as we please, asking God to forgive our sins, and God will take care of everything. We almost see our salvation as a ticket to heaven instead of a new and better way of living.” (p. 10)

Then Bridges makes his point with an ouch statement. “We might say that we “fall into sin”—like it’s some big hole that opens in front of us and we can’t do anything to prevent ourselves from falling in. Get real!” (p. 10) Obviously the big pit illustration works for Winnipeg drivers who have experienced the huge potholes that swallow up your car while you are driving. Yes I am still bitter after I hit a big hole this spring and had $900 in car repairs. But I am off track. I love this image that Bridges gives us about “falling into sin” and how we play up the victim of sin mentality. There was nothing I could do. I think that the most popular prayer in North America is for crop failure. We live our lives all week long sowing seeds of selfishness, greed and lustful desires and then we arrive Sunday morning and pray for these seeds to die. I close with Hebrews 12:12-14 (NLT), which Bridges labels as the theme verses for this book.

“Take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame will not stumble and fall but will become strong. Try to live in peace with everyone, and seek to live a clean and holy life, for those who are not holy will net see the Lord.”