have we forgotten about holiness?

If you have noticed, I have a section heading over there on the right called "Discernment" with a few links underneath.  Why would I care to put something so serious on my personal blog, you ask?  It's because I cannot separate my personal life from what I believe.  What I believe is my identity.

I believe that there is a very disconcerting shift happening in churches today - a very subtle shift that has taken years upon years to even register on the charts.  I believe that the most important doctrines of the Christian faith are:

• Mankind's sinfulness, depravity, and inability to be reconciled to God
• Jesus Christ's holiness, divinity, and absolutely sinless life on earth
• the penal substitution of Christ on the cross for our sins - He bore not only the punishment for our sins, but the actual sins themselves and died to satisfy the wrath of God, which we deserve as sinners
• the resurrection of Christ in which He loosened death's grip forever and was glorified here on earth, as He should be
• that Christ came not only to save us, but then to sanctify us

Everything hinges around these doctrines.  

In Tim Challies' daily A La Carte, I found a very pertinent article written by Kevin DeYoung that draws attention to the aspect of holiness in the Christian's life - perhaps one of the most misunderstood/forgotten/ignored things in Christian circles today.  I won't say much about it because Kevin DeYoung does it far better than I could.  I trust that you will prayerfully read the article.

The Hole in Our Holiness 

by Kevin DeYoung

I love the way he sums up his article:

It’s not pietism, legalism, or fundamentalism to take holiness seriously. It’s the way of all those who have been called to a holy calling by a holy God.