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Holiness Of Life, March 14
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the
Lord.
Hebrews 12:14
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No one who claims holiness is really holy. Those who are registered as holy
in the books of heaven are not aware of the fact, and are the last ones to boast of
their own goodness.
It is not a conclusive evidence that a man is a Christian because he manifests
spiritual ecstasy under extraordinary circumstances. Holiness is not rapture: it
is an entire surrender of the will to God; it is living by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God; it is doing the will of our heavenly Father; it is trusting
God in trial, in darkness as well as in the light; it is walking by faith and not by
sight; it is relying on God with unquestioning confidence, and resting in His love.
No one can be omnipotent, but all can cleanse themselves from filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. God requires
every soul to be pure and holy. We have hereditary tendencies to wrong. This is
a part of self that no one need carry about. It is a weakness of humanity to pet
selfishness, because it is a natural trait of character. But unless all selfishness is
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put away, unless self is crucified, we can never be holy as God is holy. There is in
humanity a tendency to suspicious imagining, which circumstances quicken into
lively growth. If this trait is indulged, it spoils the character and ruins the soul.
God requires moral perfection in all. Those who have been given light and
opportunities should, as God’s stewards, aim for perfection, and never, never lower
the standard of righteousness to accommodate inherited and cultivated tendencies
to wrong. Christ took upon Him our human nature, and lived our life, to show us
that we may be like Him.... We ought to be holy even as God is holy; and when
we comprehend the full significance of this statement, and set our heart to do the
work of God, to be holy as He is holy, we shall approach the standard set for each
individual in Christ Jesus.
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