One of the most wonderful joys in the Christian life is delighting in the holiness of God. Of all the attributes of God, His holiness, is the one I find myself attracted to the most because when I think of God, the first thing I think about is His absolute holiness. While I am not one for making New Year’s resolutions, I as making delighting in God’s holiness something I want to do more and more of in 2023.
My prayer for 2023 echoes that of Randy Alcorn when he prayed: “Oh, God show me more of Your holiness. Show me more of my sinfulness. Help me to hate sin and to love righteousness as You do. Grant me a deeper conviction of sin and a more thorough spirit of repentance. And make me holy as You are holy.”1
And in order to do this I am committing to following the advice of Andrew Murray who shared: “Nowhere can we get to know the holiness of God, and come under His influence and power, except in the inner chamber. It has been well said: ‘No man can expect to make progress in holiness who is not often and long alone with God.’”2
My friends if you are like me I get so busy tying to do things for God that I don’t spend enough quality time alone with Him just getting to delight in Him. Well, this needs to go, because I am learning that delighting in God and His holiness is something too precious to miss out on. Not only that but I believe that the more we delight in God the more we will want to do things to please Him and as we get more glimpses into His holiness, the less we will ever want to sin and bring reproach to His name. What I am trying to say is that the more we desire God, the less we will desire the things of this world and this is one of the best ways to become more holy.
I like what Jerry Bridges shares here: “God does not require a perfect, sinless life to have fellowship with Him, but He does require that we be serious about holiness, that we grieve over sin in our lives instead of justifying it, and that we earnestly pursue holiness as a way of life.”3
My challenge to you is, if you truly want to experience real joy in life then take this journey with me and develop a vibrant and God seeking daily quiet time alone with Jesus. I don’t know about you but I am excited about this deeper walk with the Lord in 2023.
If anyone has some special experiences with their own quiet time I would love to hear about it.
And remember what it says in (Psalm 37:4): “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
1 Inspirational Quotes on Holiness (bibleportal.com)
It is my quiet time with the Lord that I get to feel His presence, His peace fills my whole being, His love pouring down into the deepest chambers of my heart; I hear His voice, gives me direction, opens my eyes to see what my carnal eyes can’t see; it’s then when I gain understanding and wisdom and can see with clarity the path ahead of me.