Christen on Holiness and Grace

From 'The Heart of the Matter'

Outer purification is of no use without the inner disposition to live rightly before God.


From 'The Great Disconnect'
Let my works demonstrate the grace extended to me, not qualify the grace freely given to me.

The above quotes are from Christen's blog. In preparation for going on Moody Radio, I spent some time rereading (again...) several of Christen's posts. I was once more amazed with her ability to communicate so much with so few words. I've joked about certain authors' sentences weighing 800 pounds (John Piper, A.W. Tozer). Christen falls into that category as well.

I was particularly struck by these two quotes because they communicate a unified message despite being written in two different posts. Consider the first. It is dealing with personal holiness. So often, when we think of personal holiness, we think of 'do's' and 'don'ts', lists of rules, a veritable compendium of thou-shalt-this-but-most-certainly-thou-shalt-not-that.

However, what is suggested in Christen's writing - and I would add the Bible on the whole - is something very different from our traditional ideas. Rather than a list, which is legalism at its finest, the key to personal holiness is our hearts' desire to glorify God. The 'inner disposition' stems from holding Christ as our ultimate treasure. When we hold Him so, we obey what is written in the Bible not because we have to but because we get to. We count it a privilege to take instruction from the Lord, and we endeavor to put into practice that which He says is best. Will we arrive at actual, practical holiness in this life? No (sorry to all the Finney lovers out there). But by God's grace through the power of His Holy Spirit, we will be made more and more like Him (called sanctification) until such a time as He returns or calls us home and we are made perfect in His presence (called glorification).

And here we run right into the second quote. Our works, the 'good works He has prepared in advance', are not what make us right before God. That was done for us when Jesus lived perfectly, died sacrificially, rose powerfully, and imputed His righteousness to us graciously. This grace was extended to us in His sovereignty by His mercy and love. We did not earn it through our works. We are not saved by works; rather, we are saved to works. Our works, therefore, shine forth that grace to His glory and for our joy.

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I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but I wrote this post more for me than for anyone else. Usually, when I write, the first question I ask myself is, 'Will this be beneficial for those who read it?' Tonight, I simply wanted to write about the kind of thinker Christen was, how she was able to capture so much truth with so few words, how deeply saturated in her satisfaction in Christ she was that she could put one thought out there and it would make me think many thoughts after it. I've missed her a lot these last couple of weeks, and I am continually proud to have been her husband, to have been part of her life and part of what influenced her to think deeply and then write about her thoughts. I read these lines of hers, and I laugh - out loud - because of their profundity and insight into the great and gracious God we serve.