In Memory of Jerry Bridges: A Roundup of Articles and Quotes

Jerry Bridges, the author of more than a dozen books on discipleship and Christian living, passed away this week. The outpouring of love from the Christian blogosphere has been tremendous. Evangelical leaders are celebrating the legacy of a Christian who humbly demonstrated the power of grace-fueled spiritual discipline.

Here’s a roundup of articles celebrating Bridges, and a selection of quotes for you to share in his memory. (Simply hover over the images below to reveal sharing options.)

Tim Challies struggles to find the right words

In a heart-felt post on Bridges, Tim Challies describes his attempt to rightfully commemorate Bridges, lamenting “. . . somehow the words did not quite come out right and I wasn’t quite able to encapsulate all I was thinking and feeling.” Challies goes on to summarize the many lessons he learned from Bridges:

First, holiness is the highest pursuit. It is the highest pursuit because it is, in fact, not a pursuit of a thing but a person—to pursue holiness is to pursue God. Through The Pursuit of Holiness [Jerry Bridges] taught me that holiness, like almost everything else in life, is something that I must strive for. Holiness is a gift of God and is something that can never be accomplished apart from the work of the Spirit. Yet it is my responsibility to strive for it and to work towards this goal. He challenged me to earnestly pursue it.

Read the full article on Challies.com.

Justin Taylor details Bridges’ life story

In a Gospel Coalition blog post, Justin Taylor provides a comprehensive obituary of Bridges. Detailing the beloved author’s childhood, conversion, ministry, and legacy, Taylor’s post is a must read. In this excerpt, Taylor beautifully summarizes Bridges’ legacy in a single paragraph:

One of the great legacies of Jerry Bridges is that he combined—to borrow some titles from his books—the pursuit of holiness and godliness with an emphasis on transforming grace. He believed that trusting God not only involved believing what he had done for us in the past, but that the gospel empowers daily faith and is transformative for all of life.

Read the full article on the Gospel Coalition blog.

A Bridges co-author provides a touching tribute

Also on the Gospel Coalition blog, Bob Bevington—who co-authored two books with Jerry Bridges—provides a warm, personal glimpse into Bridges’ spiritual walk:

I was one of Jerry’s intimate prayer partners. We would call each other at the drop of a hat whenever there was a need. And since there was always a need, we talked a lot.

Read the full article on the Gospel Coalition blog.

Desiring God reaches into their archives

In 2011, Tony Reinke of Desiring God interviewed Jerry Bridges, and the Discipline of Grace author’s “five significant truths” for young Christians are even more fitting in light of Bridge’s passing. An excerpt:

The fourth great truth that I learned was the necessity of preaching the gospel to myself every day. I learned to look to Christ as my righteousness rather than to my own performance. Early in my Christian life, I had gone from one extreme, what I call self-effort — this is what the Bible says, so just obey it — to the opposite extreme — you can’t do anything, just trust Jesus to live his life through you. . . . I am responsible to deal with sin, I am responsible to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, but I am dependent on the enabling power of Christ through the Holy Spirit to enable me to do that.

Read and listen to the full interview on DesiringGod.org.

Christianity Today links to many more articles and interviews

In its coverage of Jerry Bridge’s passing, Christianity Today includes excerpts from some of the articles above, as well as numerous related content scattered across ChristianityToday.com.

Read the full article on ChristianityToday.com.