Oswald Chambers once wrote, “Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.”
The most important things in life are often the most simple. At our center, we see and understand their simplicity.
Hugging your little girl. Throwing the ball with a grandson. Playing with your puppy. Marveling in the Lord’s creation, especially during these Spring weeks. Opening your eyes in the morning sunlight, to see the love of your life lying next to you. The most important things in life are simple.
You and I were created to share in the holiness of our creator, in his all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present goodness and grace. We were made in his image, to share in his goodness.
The great achievement of this masterful work, The Utter Relief of Holiness by John Eldredge, is to shift the readers’ paradigms about this existential truth. As he writes, “in the depths of your being, you ache for goodness.”
Of course, the simplicity of those most important things are easily lost in this world. Instead, things seem increasingly hard to understand, clouded by the lies and misperceptions of the evil one. Clearly seeing through the fog, perceiving the seemingly imperceptible, is the path to holiness. It’s simple. Jesus is the way.
“Do not look to your emotions or experience to determine whether or not this is true. You start by accepting the truth as told to you by the living God. Then you will discover it playing itself out in your life” (103).
You and I are part of a bigger story, and a purpose much bigger than our relatively limited day-to-day activities and experiences. Be holy. Be what you were designed by God to be, and find utter relief from all that plagues you.
Be Strong & Courageous! 