Holiness as a Diamond

I start with a confession.  

I grew up in a church, and on a district, where “holiness” preaching—heavily influenced by the American Holiness Movement—was the norm.  That preaching both informed me and formed me. In college I sat under the teaching of a professor more influenced by Wesleyan theology, though I did not grasp the nuance at the time. I just knew that he often teared up as he unpacked the love of God in the Epistles of John, and there seemed to me to be a strong connection between his head and his heart. 

In graduate school I discovered significant differences existed between what students believed about “holiness,” usually determined by where they had been raised or schooled.  I was dumbfounded when fellow students with opposing perspectives voiced significant disagreements with the professor in class.  It was easy to let the disagreements become polarizing, rather than celebrating the rich diversity of understanding. By the time I graduated from seminary, I had become a little nervous about preaching holiness. I wasn’t sure my heart and my head were in sync.

Those early years in pastoral ministry, the doctrine was not preached with the frequency it deserved, for fear it would be presented wrong, or that there would be criticism from those more knowledgeable. When I did preach a “holiness message,” it was with great attention to detail. I wanted to get it right, and my preaching tended to be aimed at heads, not hearts. I was fascinated when sermons about the “deeper life” and entire sanctification resulted in people coming to faith in Jesus Christ and trusting him for their salvation – there were seekers for the first work of grace when I preached on the second work of grace! Others would testify to being “sanctified.” They had come to a point in their spiritual journey where they surrendered themselves entirely to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was as though there was a hunger for those messages, and the fruit they bore was more visible than that of other sermons.  

 Fortunately, after a few years in pastoral ministry I realized there is more than one “right” way to preach holiness.  My sermons began to reflect both my American Holiness Movement experience and my more recent appreciation for the richness of Wesleyan theology.  I discovered our holiness doctrine is less like a two-dimensional painting and more like a beautiful multi-faceted diamond – each facet representing a wonderful aspect of holiness. Yes, “perfect love” is a beautiful facet, but so is “purity of heart,” and “Christlikeness,” and “Sabbath rest.”  I realized that a preacher could spend his/her whole ministry preaching different aspects of the doctrine and never exhaust the treasure.

Now, a commitment.

In 2022, I will write 24 of these articles for the KCD weekly newsletter.  (I write 2 a month, and Wayne and Tabita each write one a month.)  Each of my articles this year will be on an aspect of holiness. I look forward to exploring the beauty of this diamond.

Maybe this year, as we explore and consider various facets of our distinctive doctrine, we will all be inspired to preach it more, teach it more, and embrace it more – with our heads and our hearts.