Holiness — One choice at a time

Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, used to say, “You are going to be what you are now becoming.”

And what you are now becoming is dependent on the choices you make.
JERRY BRIDGES, The Discipline of Grace

Here’s my problem:
I can make bad choices.

(That’s one of my problems anyway. Other people making bad choices can also be a problem.)

But what God is telling me is I am to be holy, for he is holy (1 Peter 1:16). I’m responsible for my decisions.

What does holy look like?

If holiness means set apart for a purpose, consecrated for a cause, my holiness means I live with intention, with a goal to glorify God, in whatever I do.

It’s not just being nice.
    Unbelievers can be nice.
It’s not just obeying rules.
    Hypocrites can do that.
It’s not just believing there’s one God.
    Even demons know and shudder (James 2:19).

Being holy means I use my life to make God look good. I brag on him. I reflect honor to him.  

How do I get holy?

Certainly not on my own. Even after my heart replacement, I still need a daily infusion of power through the Spirit to make right choices with right motives.

And I need exercise. NOT just a spiritual to-do list:

• Read Bible. Check.
• Pray for others. Check.
• Serve the community. Check.

All good, but never good enough.

I need training for righteousness, the daily decisions of one right choice after another until they link up to make a habit, then welded together to make a life.

One relationship at a time.
One conversation at a time.
One attitude at a time.

. . . until what pleases God, pleases me. And what hurts God, hurts me.

I trust his grace to make it happen in me as I turn my choices over to him. Trusting he’ll give me my heart’s desires if I’ll just give him my heart (Psalm 37:4).

Christ makes me righteous, but I choose whether or not to behave that way.

Only by his grace, I can exercise for holiness. I can take thoughts captive for obedience (2 Corinthians 10:5). I can train to be a warrior princess (READ THIS BY AMY).

One choice at a time.

* * *

Thoughts after reading Chapter 11, The Discipline of Choice

My summaries on Chapters 1-10

Read what others are saying at Challies

Day 18 of . . .