"We do not become more holy by discipline, by dependence, by committing ourselves to God, or by developing Bible-based convictions. We become more holy by obeying the Word of God, choosing to obey His will as revealed in the Scriptures in all the various circumstances of our lives.
It's just as true, however, that the discipline, dependence, commitment, and convictions are absolutely necessary to our making the right choices. We don't make them in a vacuum. They're determined by convictions we've developed and commitments we've made. We can make the right choices only through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. But all these principles and means of spiritual growth find ultimate fulfillment only when we obey God's commandments one choice at a time. As we do, our righteous actions lead to holy character.
I recently observed my wife making a quilt. she first made a number of one-foot "squares", each with a sewn design. The particular overall design she'd chosen, a mariner's compass, was rather intricate, with each square containing about forty narrow triangles. Each square was beautiful, a testimony to her sewing ability. But those individual squares, beautiful as they were, did not make a quilt. Only by being sewn together with a narrow strip of cloth between each row of squares did they become a quilt.
Pursuing holiness is like that. We have the quilt squares of dependence, commitment, convictions, and beholding the glory of Christ in the gospel. Each one is beautiful in and of itself. But if we just look at these principles and means of holiness individually, we still do not have the "quilt" of holiness. What joins them all together to form the "quilt of holiness" is obedience. And we obey one choice at a time."
-Jerry Bridges-
(from devotional Holiness Day by Day)
~Grow in Grace~
(2 Peter 3:18)
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