Advent Devotionals
Advent Devotionals
Why Is the Fight for Holiness So Difficult?
Hopelessness
The Bible tells us to expect holiness to be a battle. We are a part of a spiritual war, and even with the help of God’s Spirit, we’re still doing battle with the flesh, Paul says. So, it’s no shocker that it's not easy to follow Jesus. But I think there’s an element to our struggle that’s often overlooked, in that if we take it seriously, it can be a big help to us as we fight.
I think that hopelessness is a key factor in the struggle that we don’t pay enough attention to. Over the years, in my own battle with sin and then as a pastor in the life of many friends who are battling with sin, I’ve seen hopelessness debilitate people in the struggle over and over again. Basically, it looks like, I failed again. I know I’m going to fail again. Why should I fight again if I only know it’s going to end in failure?
I compare that to what it’s like for me to try to take up any sort of handyman project around my house. I just don’t have that gene, for whatever reason, and I’ve tried. I haven’t just given up completely every time. I’ve tried projects that I scoped out in advance. I got the materials, I watched the YouTube videos in advance to try to figure out how to get it all ready and have everything I need and know what steps to follow.
Remember Heaven
Matthew McCullough
In these practical meditations on biblical promises, Matthew McCullough shows how cultivating heavenly mindedness shapes readers’ lives in the meantime.
But what I’ve learned from a lot of experience is that it’s going to cost more than I thought. The videos are going to make things more complicated, not simpler, for me. Ultimately, when it’s finished, it’s not going to look very good. I’m probably just going to end up calling my handyman buddies to come and fix what I made worse.
So, I’ve got two choices when something around the house needs to be fixed. I can fail the hard way after a lot of YouTube, a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of energy, and a lot of failure; or I can fail the easy way and just go ahead and call somebody to come in and do it for me.
Sometimes I’ve felt that way in the battle with sin, and I’ve seen it in others too. Why not just go ahead and fail the easy way? I know how this ends.
Hope of Heaven
That’s one reason it’s so important to cultivate an everyday awareness of the hope of heaven and where all this is headed. At the center of what the Bible tells us about heaven is that we will be with God there and we will see him as he is. John tells us in 1 John 3 that when we see him as he is, we’ll be like him. Seeing him will make us like him. And he says that whoever has this hope purifies himself, as he is pure.
I take that to mean that we can have more and more success now in our battle with sin, to whatever extent our hope for seeing him and being transformed into his likeness is vivid and clear before our minds. The hope of heaven is that when we see him, there will be nothing that will ever take our eyes off of him again.
At the center of what the Bible tells us about heaven is that we will be with God.
None of his competition will ever be able to turn our heads, because he’s too beautiful for that. And we will finally, in seeing him, love him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength—no more toehold for sin.
If that’s where all this is headed, what does that have to do with the struggle for today to fight for holiness as we’ve been called to?
It shows us why the fight is worth it and how the fight moves forward. And the reason it’s worth it is that we know how this ends. That this ends in perfect holiness. This ends in a complete renovation job after the image of Jesus. This doesn’t end in failure. It ends in his glory shining out of our lives. So, why would you not fight a battle you know you can’t lose?
Hope is also showing us how to fight. One day, if what will will purify us completely is the clarity of our vision of him and all his beauty, then what will begin to purify us now is the clarity of our vision of him and all his beauty. We’re going to cultivate our vision of him through his word, through his people, and through prayer. We’re going to be looking for his love for us wherever we can see it, wherever he’s made it visible already. And as we look, we’ll love him. As we love him, we’ll grow more like him. And it all ends in heaven.
Matthew McCullough is the author of Remember Heaven: Meditations on the World to Come for Life in the Meantime.
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