In 2016, Jerry Bridges passed away from heart failure. His writings, perhaps more than anyone, have made a deep impact on my life. I share them with you in the hopes that maybe you’ll add one of them to your summer reading list.
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holiness
As more foreigners visit Japan, Japanese hosts have to negotiate the cultural differences around views of what’s clean and what’s not. As we welcomed guests from many different countries in our home in Japan, it was clear that they struggled with the Japanese rules. Some people explained to me that their shoes weren’t that dirty. Others were convinced that they could wipe off the dirt. And some people just didn’t like to put on other people’s slippers. It was humbling to be told that your shoes were too dirty to just walk in. Despite the differences, everyone seemed to concede that a guest must defer to the host. As I have reflected on the dilemma faced by many Japanese hosts with their foreign guests, I’m reminded of a similar problem confronting God as the host of heaven. In fact, a story that Jesus told sounds very similar to the problem of slippers and outside shoes in Japan. And it helps me understand what keeps many people out of heaven.
Last week, we considered Jesus’ amazing claim that the disciples were actually better off that He was leaving them because it meant that they would receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is just what we need but misunderstanding about what He actually does in a person’s life can cause confusion and frustration. There are at least four things that the Holy Spirit does in a person’s life.
On March 6, Jerry Bridges passed away from heart failure. His writings have made a deep impact on my life. I first read his oldest and most famous book, The Pursuit of Holiness, as a new believer in university. It was a book that awakened me to the full force of what the Bible taught about sin and seeking holiness.