Why Do We Fail in Our Pursuit of Holiness?

A.W. Tozer, in his book, The Pursuit of God writes that we fail to become holy because we look more to ourselves than the Lord:

"Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God, we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One."

I know what Tozer meant because years ago when I struggled with the sin of swearing, I was frustrated when I tried to fix the problem in my own strength. I failed often. However, when I focused more on Jesus, my language cleaned up.

We have a perfect Savior. Thus, let us look to him in praise and love and service. There really is nothing better in life.

Bryan