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Holiness, March 28
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall
see the Lord.
Hebrews 12:14
.
God has from eternity chosen men to be holy. “This is the will of God
[concerning you], even your sanctification” (
1 Thessalonians 4:3
). The echo
of His voice comes to us, ever saying, “Holier, holier still.” And ever our
answer is to be, “Yes, Lord, holier still.”
No man receives holiness as a birthright, or as a gift from any other human
being. Holiness is the gift of God through Christ. Those who receive the
Saviour become sons of God. They are His spiritual children, born again,
renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Their minds are changed. With
clearer vision they behold eternal realities. They are adopted into God’s
family, and they become conformed to His likeness, changed by His Spirit
from glory to glory. From cherishing supreme love for self, they come to
cherish supreme love for God and for Christ.
“Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ” (
Romans 5:1
). Justification means pardon. It means that the heart,
purged from dead works, is prepared to receive the blessing of sanctification.
God has told us what we must do to receive this blessing. “Work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring
and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom
ye shine as lights in the world” (
Philippians 2:12-15
).
The love of God, cherished in the heart and revealed in the words and acts,
will do more to elevate and ennoble human beings than all else can. In the life
of Christ, this love found full and complete expression. On the cross of Christ
the Saviour made an atonement for the fallen race. Holiness is the fruit of this
sacrifice. It is because He has died for us that we are promised this great gift.
And Christ longs to bestow this gift on us. He longs to make us partakers
of His nature. He longs to save those who by sin have separated themselves
from God. He calls upon them to choose His service, to give themselves
wholly into His control, to learn from Him how to do God’s will.—
The Signs
of the Times, December 17, 1902
.
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