TRUE
SPIRITUALITY; HOLINESS: FIRST NEED; HAPPINESS

True spirituality manifests itself in certain dominant desires. These are ever-present, deep-settled wants sufficiently powerful to motivate and control the life.…

First is the desire to be holy rather than happy. The yearning after happiness found so widely among Christians professing a superior degree of sanctity is sufficient proof that such sanctity is not indeed present. The truly spiritual man knows that God will give abundance of joy after we have become able to receive it without injury to our souls, but he does not demand it at once. John Wesley said of the members of one of the early Methodist societies that he doubted that they had been made perfect in love because they came to church to enjoy religion instead of to learn how they could become holy.

Leviticus 19:2; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 1:4–6; 1 Peter 1:14–16

That Incredible Christian, 133.