July 8

Mary demanded, "Tell me where thou hast laid him" (John 20:15), implying she wanted to carry the body of Jesus with her, on her shoulders-- a desire she was not physically able to perform. Her affections were much stronger than her back.

The principle of holiness in a saint, then, makes him try to lift a duty which he can barely move; he can do little more than desire with all his heart to see it done. Paul sketches his own character from the sincerity of his will and efforts, not from the perfection of his works: "Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly" (Hebrews 13:18). He was so willing to follow God into holiness that he did not hesitate to claim " a good conscience," although he could not accomplish everything he wanted to do.

True holiness will not divide what God joins: "God spake all these words" (Exodus 20:1). There God gave together the four commandments concerning Himself and the six concerning man. And a truly sanctified heart does not want to skip over or blot out one word God has written but desires to be a doer of the whole will of God.

"To God and man"-- first to God and then to man; this is the sequence of a sanctified life. Paul said the Macedonians first gave "their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God" (2 Corinthians 8:5). A sanctified person first obeys God and then, out of obedience to His will, serves his fellow man.

In Christianity we cannot write a right line without a rule, or with a false one. And every standard except the Word is a false rule-- "to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20). Whatever the Word of God requires is the rule of God's Spirit; apocryphal holiness-- doubtful, marginal, or extraneous-- is not true holiness at all.

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