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How is the will to please God shaped? What is the difference between a person who's aspiring to holiness and wills to please the Father and the person who does not will to please the Father?

In recent years I have realized that my will has to be affected by what I would call a higher purpose or a higher desire. Years ago a great old Scottish preacher by the name of Thomas Chalmers preached a sermon titled "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection." Paul refers to this idea when he said, "Set your affections on things above." I think that the will is redirected not by just deciding I'm going to redirect it, but by setting my affections on Christ, the love of God in Christ, the glory of God, the reality of eternal life. As I do that, then my will is going to be gradually moved in the direction of wanting to do the will of God rather than doing what my flesh desires.

You talk about the role of the Holy Spirit and the role of the Word of God and the role of prayer in the helps that we have in the pursuit of holiness. Just expand on each of those just briefly.

The Holy Spirit is the one who makes us holy. In II Corinthians 3:18 Paul says that we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another into the likeness of God's Son even by the Spirit, who is the Lord. So it is the particular role of the Holy Spirit to transform us. He uses his Word. He is the author of the Word, and the Word of God is his primary instrument of transformation.

Another instrument of transformation that he uses is the circumstances of life that he allows or brings into our lives so that we have to apply the scripture in real life situations. And prayer is simply an expression of our dependence upon God, and specifically our dependence upon the Holy Spirit to work in us. I see the Holy Spirit working in us in two ways. First of all, he works as he wills. That is, he doesn't wait for us to ask him. And this is what the writer of Hebrews is getting at in Hebrews 13:21 when he says, "May he work in us that which is well pleasing in him."

The second way the Holy Spirit works is enabling us or empowering us. I like to use the analogy of an electric shaver. An electric shaver has a little motor in it, but that motor in itself has no power. It must be plugged into the current in the house or the hotel or wherever one is staying. And the analogy that I draw from that is that the new nature, which God has given to us at regeneration, is that motor. But the motor in itself has no power, it is dependent upon an external power source, which is the Holy Spirit. And so each day as I pray, and as I pray over needs in my own life—and I'm talking about character needs, either areas of sin that need to be dealt with or positive character traits that I want to put on—I'm asking the Holy Spirit to work in me, to enable me to do my part in those situations.

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The Pursuit of Holiness is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

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Dick Staub is president of the Center for Faith and Culture, which examines intersections between popular culture and religious belief. Complete transcripts and audio versions of Dick Staub Interviews can be found at dickstaub.com. Recent Dick Staub Interviews for Christianity Today include:

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April (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48