HOLY! A review...

Yesterday, I partnered with a number of Salvation Army Corps around Melbourne to help launch a new book during our church service that was co-written by two of my Salvation Army Officer colleagues and friends, Major Stephen Court and Captain Peter Brookshaw. The book is titled "HOLY! - Nine lies, half-truths and outrageous misconceptions about the most radical experience you've never lived."

Having read a number of books along my spiritual journey about holiness, from past and present authors, I was keen to discover what this new publication would add to an already well covered subject. While it doesn't add anything new, it does invite us to take a fresh look at an experience that has become misunderstood, misrepresented or misplaced in the church today despite the unchanging biblical call to be holy.  That's the beauty of this book.  It puts holiness back on the agenda for the 21st century church by challenging the "lies, half-truths and outrageous misconceptions" that have robbed many Christians from this life transforming experience.

Right from the outset Major Danielle Strickland sets the tone for the book in her foreword by removing holiness off the shelf of spiritual idealism or theoretical rhetoric and grounds it by declaring that "The blessing of holiness is not in the idea but in the experience of it."  From that platform, Brookshaw and Court deliver a clear and concise overview of an experience that is intended for every Christ follower, not just the "super saints."  They are unapologetic about taking holiness out of the realms of pop-theology and reframing it through a lens of Scripture to provide us with a biblical image of a holy life as personified by Jesus Christ.  They are unforgiving of the untruths that distort this experience, yet gracious in re-establishing a biblical framework of truth around holy living.  And they are uncompromising about calling the reader to a renewed desire to "be holy, because [God is] holy" (1 Peter 1:16).

HOLY! doesn't attempt to provide an in-depth theological commentary about holiness but does provide an accessible response to FAQ about holiness that could unleash a renewed passion to pursue a Christ-like, Spirit-filled experience of a holy life that will radically transform this generation of Christ followers!

If ever there was a time when a renewed focus on holiness is needed in the church, it is NOW!!  HOLY! can be purchase from http://commerce.salvationarmy.org.au/default.asp 

Christlikeness

"We must never forget that we look to Jesus not only as our Saviour from sin but as our example in holy living. When we step out on to the highway of holiness it is not in the company of some stranger whom we have never met before. We are with the one who has already shown himself to be our Saviour and who cannot fail 'to lavish upon us all that he has to give' (Romans 8:32). We are ever in his company and his example is always before our eyes. Holiness is Christlikeness and Christlikeness is holiness. What is Christlike is holy and what is unChristlike is unholy - by whomsoever or for whatsoever reason."
(Frederick Coutts, The Splendour of Holiness, p 60)

When we strip holiness down to its very essence, it is nothing more and nothing less than being 'Christlike". We used to sing the chorus, To Be Like Jesus, which ought to reflect the heart of every believer who's "attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus..." (Philippians 2:5). In Christ, we have the example and power to be like the One who has saved us and sanctified us for His purpose. He has gone before us and goes ahead of us, giving "us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" (2 Peter 1:3).

There is a very obvious conclusion for me from these thoughts; if I want to be like Christ, I need to be in close proximity to Christ - learning from His example, receiving His power, listening to His voice and imitating His character.