Pursuing Holiness In Real Life

Are you ever discouraged by the sin in your life as a follower of Christ?
Yep.
Me too.
Author Jerry Bridges once told me we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every single day.
We need to know that even at our best moments we're sinners in need of forgiveness.
That keeps us humble.

The illustration I often think of is that we're standing on one side of the Grand Canyon and God is way across on the other side.

We want to get to Him.

And we can try on our own.

One guys runs and jumps and goes 20 feet out.

The next guy gives it a try and jumps 50 feet.

The third guy hops in a car and gets it up to 120 miles per hour and goes 200 feet.

Each one fell short.

It's the same for us.

And it's the Cross that bridges the gap.

We get to God because of the blood of Jesus.

It's powerful enough to cover our deepest sins.

Past, present, and future.

That doesn't mean we give up being obedient to Christ.

We do that to thank Him for taking our punishment.

For paying our debt.

When God looks at us, sees the righteousness of Christ credited to our account.

Psalm 103:11-12 (ESV) For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

But if you're discouraged today, check out this line from one of my favorite books of all time: "Holiness" by J.C. Ryle:

"A holy man is not perfect. But it is the excellence of a holy man that he is not at peace with indwelling sin as others are. He hates it, mourns over it, and longs to be free of its company....

It is his heart's desire to be obedient to the Lord, though he may fall short at times. It is what he strives and works to be, even if it is not what he is."