September
20, 2003
YOU
SHALL BE HOLY!
"You
shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus
19:2, NKJV).
"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.
"Our
hearts are evil, and we cannot change them... Education, culture,
the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper
sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward
correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart;
they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power
working from within, a new life from above, before men can
be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His
grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul,
and attract it to God, to holiness.
"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... Accepting Christ as a personal Saviour, and
following His example of self-denial --this is the secret
of holiness.
"Forgetting
the things that are behind, let us press forward in the heavenward
way. Let us neglect no opportunity that, if improved, will
make us more useful in God's service. Then like threads of
gold, holiness will run through our lives, and the angels,
beholding our consecration, will repeat the promise, 'I will
make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the
golden wedge of Ophir' (Isaiah 13:12). All heaven rejoices
when weak, faulty human beings give themselves to Jesus, to
live His life."--God's Amazing Grace, p.
120.
|
