How can you be holy? How can you live a “deeper” life with Christ?
I am reading a biography of Anthony Norris Groves, written by G. H. Lang. So far, it is excellent.
Groves was one of the pioneers of the faith missions movement—he went to the mission field without salary or support and depended entirely upon God to meet his needs locally, just as his brother-in-law George Muller did with orphanages.
Groves was also known for living a holy life, and people wrote to him asking for advice.
In my personal library, I have numerous books written by Orthodox and Catholic “saints” on how to be holy. Their recommendations are similar: food laws, prayer rules, breathing techniques, sacred spaces, religious bricolage, and numerous other ascetic practices.
In short, what they recommend is focusing on law (cf. Col 2:21-23).
But that’s not what Groves recommended that you focus on. A woman wrote to him, asking for advice, and here is part of what he told her.
“My dear Mrs. C.,
“You know the old adage relative to natural affections, that love is the best casuist; when you really love, you soon find out what will please; and thus it is with Christ; if your love glows towards Him, you will have almost an instinctive sense of what will please Him, and that will prove to be a holy life, when followed on from day to day” (Quoted in Lang, Groves, p. 50).
If you want to live a holy life, you must fall more deeply in love with Jesus. But how do you do that? “I know your anxious heart will say, how is the love to be obtained, that makes the yoke so easy and the burden so light?” (Quoted in Lang, Groves, p. 51). How do you grow to love someone?
Groves compared it to when he first met this woman and her daughter. While they were strangers to him, he was not drawn to them. But as they continued to meet, things changed. “The more we were together, the more we loved each other.” And the same principle applies to loving Jesus. Of course, the difference is that your neighbors are physically present, while Christ is physically absent, having ascended into heaven. So how do you spend time with Christ to fall more deeply in love with Him?
“As a principle to guide the heart, I would say, seek such a deep acquaintance with Christ’s mind, as revealed in His holy life, and life-giving word, in order that when any little circumstance arises that requires instant decision, you may have Himself, as it were, present to the memory of your heart, to give you counsel; and that you may fully understand this mind seek above all things the guidance of that Spirit that alone can guide you into all the truth” (Quoted in Lang, Groves, p. 51).
In other words, if you want to live a holy life, don’t focus on rules, but on Christ.
More specifically, practical holiness will be an outworking of your love for Christ—a love that can deepen by spending more time with Him, by meditating on His life and teachings in the Word. And as you do, the Holy Spirit will apply that Word to your mind (“the memory of your heart”) to counsel you in “any little circumstance” that arises as you live for Christ. As the Apostle John once said, His love for you, inspires your love for Him:
We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
