There has been much written about holiness over the years. From the early church Fathers onwards, there has been a call for the church to be holy. So why is there are a need for yet another book on the subject?
Here's two reasons:
Kevin DeYoung sees the need for us as a 21st century people, living in the body of a Western 21st century church, to grab holiness by the scruff of the neck and shine it into our lives.
He recognises that the church has messed up in the past and the present. Whether that be the moralistic behaviour of previous generations, (where turning up for church and being dutiful equated to holiness), or the current generation's 'free grace' living which has blurred the lines between being in the world and being of the world. But he doesn't stop there...
His passion is to encourage/inspire individual people to be clearly distinctive in their conduct. Why? Simply, because we are justified in and through Christ, we are free to live holy lives . We are tied to his very nature. His holy nature.
He encourages us to see the cross with fresh eyes, to see that Christ isn't after super-duper-Olympic-gold-medalist-standard Christians. That he wants our lives as they are; steeped in forgiveness and grace. Echoing Luther, that we should be in daily repentance to our holy God. Christ wants ordinary Christians to live and serve with other ordinary Christians.
Kevin calls us not to be lazy in this area. A massive challenge to all of us. (I definitely to be told again and again - I'm inherently lazy). We aren't to float around in life and expect holiness to slot into place, we have to be intentional. We have to speak Christ into this area of our lives (as with every other area).
If you want to be encouraged to be holy, quite frankly, this is essential reading.
