Character and Holiness

I've been doing some reading lately about sanctification and have been giving thought to how this action of God should affect us, particularly those of us in leadership.

"Character is to be positively changed, and all my nature 'refined'". I wonder what that says about us as Christian leaders? So many of us seem unchanged - we still get angry and impatient. We still speak badly of our subordinates, colleagues, and leaders. We put process before people. We misuse and abuse power. We are wasteful. Either sanctification does not effect change, or we are not changed because we are not sanctified. I'm going with the latter.

I rarely if ever feel 'holy.' Perhaps I'm a product of my generation, brought up with Puritanical notions that prevent one from fully grasping this gift - one should never think highly of oneself, and certainly not think of oneself as holy! Much of my experience with holiness in the church has been to see its application as law rather than grace. Holiness has been wielded by hard taskmasters who use it as a tool to point out what you are not, where you've failed, and the sorry state of your sinful condition. We even use this blessed experience to define our egotism when we describing someone as 'holier than thou'. It can't be that holiness is about condemnation. Surely this is not the 'good news' that Jesus brought!

I'd like to think that holiness is a close relative of grace - given by God, even though we don't deserve it and accepted by us knowing that there is nothing we could do to earn it. It is not earned once I pray enough, read my Bible enough, 'do' enough. Even if it was ... when is enough, enough?

I'm inclined to think that the God we serve is one who delights in his children, who is pleased with our feeble attempts - not because they are feeble, but because we dare to attempt. And so, as a self-confessed 'Couttsian', for me holiness is not so much a destination as it is a journey, a process. It affects my leadership most profoundly when I understand its primary function as bringing me in closer relationship with God.

"Holiness is the habit of agreeing in God’s judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word."
- J. C. Ryle

"The best test of a sanctified man is to ask his family about him."
- C. T. Studd