Book Review: Holier Than Thou

This world is all about God's love. It is a comfortable, encouraging message. I'm not here to say God doesn't love you. He very much does. But, as this author points out, some prefer God's love over God's holiness and you cannot parse the two. Jackie Hill Perry, in Holier Than Thou: How God's Holiness Helps Us Trust Him, offers a message of hope. He is trustworthy because of His holiness. It may appear to be strict and judgmental, but it is absolute love and genuine goodness. She scours the Scriptures to prove that every believer can embrace, emulate, and trust God's holiness.

My favorite aspect of this book is that the author is a poet. Prior to reading this, or even putting my name on the library's hold list, I visited some of her spoken word recitals on YouTube. Then, while reading, it was as if I could hear the author performing the words in the sentences. She has an impressive skill for emphasis through short sentences that are almost like bulleted points. I wish I could have experienced this book in audio form.

Here are some of the good things I gleaned. We doubt the truth of His commands, or that He intends them for our good, because they cost us something. Moreover, so much of our sin goes back to the primal one in the garden. Satan promises we will be like God, yet we only wish to have God's rightful authority, not His righteousness. We want to be Lord of our own lives.

Sometimes, she articulates things so well, I cannot re-hash in my own words:

"To many, He is good insofar as He fits within the moral standards of society... tolerant... inclusive. This Jesus is a good one, perhaps, but would He be a Holy One?... Holiness should never be determined by the whims, wishes, and standards of a created thing... or... culture. Especially when that culture's ideas are so easily influenced by the deceitful hearts within it."

"If He is just love and not judge, which is no love at all really, then we can rebel without accountability. This is the pseudo-freedom that sinners prefer. Life on their terms."

When we distance ourselves from His holiness, it is often because we have elevated something or someone into an idol. We put what is "other than God" and place it on the throne of our lives. Or as Jackie says, "We take what God called good and remove a letter.... We choose [our idol] over God... because we think it and not Him can give us what we need." Of course, this is easy to see in the lives of others. How clear it is that my prodigal son looks to something other than God, believing it will give him what he supposes God cannot. Far harder to turn my eye inward and detect where I have elevated something else to meet my needs.

God is Holy, apart from us, above us. He is and was and is to come. The Almighty is dependent upon nothing and, because of this, you can trust Him to save and transform you. He will meet you where you are with a love and justice that you cannot beat. Don't you want to rest in His holiness instead of struggling against it? Stop looking elsewhere because that holiness demands something you don't want to give. May He pull back the veil, allowing you to see Him as He is truly is, a Holy God, and your attempts to do what is right for you, as filthy rags. Then, may you recognize His grace and have the faith to exchange those rags for His robes of righteousness.