"The Chase.....Pursuing Holiness in Your Every Day Life"

Matthew 7:21-23 (King James Version)

²¹Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

^21-23"Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'

Holiness is a term so often misunderstood by many, and understandably so with a different idea or different translation of it around every corner. Holiness is one of the most, if not THE most, important responsibilities of Christians. At the same time, that word is all too many times the one reason people shy away from religion, the impossibility of it. The word Holy is understood as Perfect, No blemishes, No sin, No mistakes......virtually unattainable so why even bother, right?

In "The Chase", a book that was birthed from a more mature, earlier version published in the 70's "The Pursuit of Holiness", Jerry Bridges, a renowned author of well over a dozen books and also a Bible teacher, is able to put Holiness, and the pursuit of it, into perspective in a much easier way to understand it. He sheds a little light on what it is, and what it isn't. You will find many tools to use in your everyday life, that make the "chase" for holiness a little less confusing and discouraging. The book helps you to understand that in reality, no human will ever fully reach complete Holiness, because that would mean perfection, without sin. That's just not possible, and it's not meant to be.

The beginning of the book sets the pace for the rest of the it with the analogy of the farmer that Bridges uses. It's a great comparison of your own relationship with God and it's vitality in your attempt at living a Holy life. A farmer depends on #1, his own working of his land to grow his crops, but he also is completely dependant on factors outside of his control for his crop to grow. Our personal pursuit with Holiness is much the same. We as individuals are totally responsible for the decisions we make in life to live right, but we are also totally dependant on the Holy Spirit to allow or show us how to live more as Christ, Holy. It's laid out in the Bible both by Jesus' example, and God's Instruction.

Obviously, I really enjoyed this book. It's directed more towards young people, teenagers... mostly because of the dialect and "genres of sin" I'm assuming, and because of the way it is broken down to make it easier to understand. However, I really feel like just about anybody could benefit from it. I'm 30 years old, and I found it to be quite helpful. I have both a KJV, and a NIV. I always have both at hand to compare because face it, not many people can just read a KJV and know what it means. This book uses scriptures from NIV, NASB, NLT, and also The Message, which I've been finding is often questioned.

The Message is not meant to be used as a study Bible. It's meant to be used as a "reading" Bible. In using this type of source for his book, Bridges has allowed people to really be able to understand what the Bible says about Holiness. It's (The Message) written in paraphrase type, and it's like reading a story.

Why is that good? Well, the obvious reason is because the book is entitled "The Chase....pursuing Holiness in your every day life"....okay one of the most basic and accessible ways to attempt this is by being in the Word. By reading the Bible, you feed your spirit, even if you don't understand it completely, you're still feeding. Also, by staying in the Word, you give yourself the opportunity to better recognize a falsity when you see one. You should never just take anyone's word when it comes to what God's Word really says. With that thought, why not provide yourself with an easy way to understand it then? That's my favorite thing about The Chase. It's so easy to understand, and I can pass it right along to my son who is 13 and be confident that he will be able to understand it also.

There are many, many scriptures throughout the book. From what I can tell by my own comparison, they are pretty accurate with my KJV and NIV. This made me like the book even more.

Just a few interesting points I also wanted to share:

• Read Leviticus, the whole book is dedicated to Holiness.
• There are many misconceptions on the qualifications of Holy....I learned several things I was doing or thinking wrong.
• Once you learn about God, you lose your "ignorance" excuse! Think about that.
• If you learn to see God as your Parent, someone you respect, striving for Holiness becomes more important to you because
• you then better understand how your sin affects Him. It's like hurting your parents.
• There are 2 types of Holiness, Inherited so to speak, and Strived for.
• Never categorize your sin. The Bible says that one sin is just the same as the next. No one sin is worse or better than any other. Hard to believe, but true.

I'll end with this, this book is perfectly titled, "THE CHASE" because people need to understand that living a life of Holiness is 100% you're responsibility. It isn't just something handed to you, you have to CHASE after it every day, all day long. It's not over until it's over. Then you reap the rewards!

When you decide to "Chase" a life of Holiness, don't assume that life automatically gets easier. Many cases, it gets tougher. The Devil doesn't want you to live for God so he will work that much harder to divert your path. Think of it this way, if you are experiencing trouble after trouble, and you know your're trying your very best to live right, then take the tribulations to mean that you're going in the right direction. The closer you come to God, the harder the Devil fights for your soul. Don't let him win.

(The only cons I found about this book were in typing errors and apperance. I don't feel that affects the message of the book in any way though, however, so I didn't really feel the need to elaborate on them)

Disclosure: I received this book free from NavPress as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."