Perfecting holiness - Chambers, Oswald
2 corinthians 7:1
Having therefore these promises what promises? I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and i will be their god, and they shall be my people (2 corinthians 6:16)let us cleanse ourselves no excusing the sins were most inclined to while condemning those weve no mind to; there must be no moral partiality in the saint from all defilement of flesh and spirit (RV )nothing contrary to gods nature: the blood of Jesus christ his son cleanseth us from all sin perfecting holiness in the fear of god. It is perilously possible to cultivate a spurious, unhealthy holiness not in the fear of god. There is a subtle form of carnal pride that is set on my holiness; it is unscriptural and morbid and ends in experience rather than in character, in taking myself more and more seriously and god less and less seriously. The cultivation of holiness is impossible without the spiritual concentration which the holy spirit enjoins. I beseech you . . . To present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to god (rv). Practical holiness is the only holiness of any value in this world, and the only kind god will endorse. Romans 12:12 is a passionate entreaty to rouse ourselves out of that stagnation in which we are ensnared by thinking that because it is all of grace there is no need for gumption; whereas the tremendous initiative given us to sanctification ought to rouse us to determined activity until we are transformed by the renewing of our mind and able to make out the will of god. This mental renewing means the strenuous and courageous lifting of the problems of the world, individual, family, and social, into the spiritual domain, and habitually working out a life of practical holiness. It is not an easy task, but a heroically difficult one, requiring the mightiest effort of our human nature; a task which by the grace of god lifts us into thinking gods thoughts after him until they become our unconscious inheritance. The secret of spiritual other worldliness is not found in adhering to a set of rules, but lies deep down in a hidden spring of life and thought which the saint continually obeys.