The Hole in Our Holiness (a book review)

Anyone who’s read me for long knows about my year long study of grace. That was a necessary journey for me, and one that has forever changed the landscape of my soul. You cannot draw near to the exquisite grace of God and come away unscathed.

However, for some time now, I’ve been drifting just a bit, struggling with desire and motivation. Praying for direction and guidance and grace for my weaknesses, yearning to see sanctification at work.  I do believe now there was a hole in my holiness.

I purchased this book for Tim for Christmas.  I thought my motives were pure in getting him a gift, but it possible that I was intrigued by it myself, because it wasn’t far into January before I picked it up and began reading.

From chapter one, Mind the Gap, to chapter ten, That All May See Your Progress, the author, Kevin DeYoung, seemed to be preaching directly to me.  In me, there was a gap, it needed to be minded, and I felt that gap gloriously bridged through the reading of this book.

We can carry around connection confusion in our minds without being fully aware of it until some of those vital intersections meet. So it was with me.  After immersing myself in a (very necessary) study of grace, I had some lingering confusion over these issues:

• the place of Law now in our lives as Christians
• how to practically pursue holiness with an understanding of grace
• what it looks like for grace to be at work in me
• striving, effort, and hard work in the Christian life
• separating holiness from legalism, pursuing the one and rejecting the other

DeYoung answers all of these questions and others that I didn’t even know I had until I read.  I believe this book contains a vital message that fuels believers with conviction for the holy lives God is calling them to lead. I needed that. I didn’t know how much until I started reading.

I have to restrain myself from over-quoting this book, but I’ll just end with one helpful quote about the use of Law in our lives now that we are blood-bought believers.

“We usually think of law leading us to gospel. And this is true–we see God’s standards, see our sin, and then see our need for a Savior. But it’s just as true that gospel leads to law. In Exodus, first God delivered his people from Egypt, then he gave the Ten Commandments. . . I simply want to show that the good news of the gospel leads to gracious instructions for obeying God.“

If you are interested in purchasing this book (and I recommend it highly!), simply click on the quote above to find it available at Amazon in print or kindle/nook.

Originally blogged at Little Pieces of Ordinary.