Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is HolyMurray, Andrew
Religion
Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy
Murray, Andrew
Holiness
'The Holy Ones in Christ Jesus!' Such is the name, beloved
fellow-believers, which we bear in Holy Scripture, in the language of
the Holy Spirit. It is no mere statement of doctrine, that we are holy
in Christ: it is no deep theological discussion to which we are invited;
but out of the depths of God's loving heart, there comes a voice thus
addressing His beloved children. It is the name by which the Father
calls His children. That name tells us of God's provision for our being
holy. It is the revelation of what God has given us, and what we already
are; of what God waits to work in us, and what can be ours in personal
practical possession. That name, gratefully accepted, joyfully
confessed, trustfully pleaded, will be the pledge and the power of our
attainment of the Holiness to which we have been called.
And so we shall find that as we go along, all our study and all God's
teaching will be comprised in three great lessons. The first a
revelation, '_I am holy_;' the second a command, '_Be ye holy_;' the
third a gift, the link between the two, '_Ye are holy in Christ_.'
First comes the revelation, 'I am holy.' Our study must be on bended
knee, in the spirit of worship and deep humility. God must reveal
Himself to us, if we are to know what Holy is. The deep unholiness of
our nature and all that is of nature must be shown us; with Moses and
Isaiah, when the Holy One revealed Himself to them, we must fear and
tremble, and confess how utterly unfit we are for the revelation or the
fellowship, without the cleansing of fire. In the consciousness of the
utter impotence of our own wisdom or understanding to know God, our
souls must in contrition, brokenness from ourselves and our power or
efforts, yield to God's Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness, to reveal God as
the Holy One. And as we begin to know Him in His infinite righteousness,
in His fiery burning zeal against all that is sin, and His infinite
self-sacrificing love to free the sinner from his sin, and to bring him
to His own perfection, we shall learn to wonder at and worship this
glorious God, to feel and deplore our terrible unlikeness to Him, to
long and cry for some share in the Divine beauty and blessedness of this
Holiness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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