To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification, is to get into a side-eddy. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ. The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is part of the effect of the wonderful abandonment of God.
Abandonment never produces the consciousness of its own effort, because the whole life is taken up with the One to Whom we abandon.
Oswald Chambers – My Utmost for His Highest
Probably many of us from the “holiness movement” would be taken aback by this statement. Many of our churches are adorned with the phrase “Called Unto Holiness”.
We believe that the second work of grace by which a person is cleansed of inbred sin and filled fully with the Holy Spirit is the missing ingredient in many believers’ lives for a fruitful walk with Jesus.
Chambers’ point seems to be that if we are truly consecrated to God, fully surrendered to His will and to His way, that our focus will not be so much on holiness as it is on Christ.
To focus on holiness is to be fixated on the effect, not the cause.
If we focus on Jesus… completely… then we may live a life of abandonment, sweet surrender to God.