Holy Father! I do bless Thee for this precious blessed word, for this
precious blessed work of Thy beloved Son. In His never-ceasing
intercession Thou ever hearest the wonderful prayer, 'I sanctify myself
for them, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.'
Blessed Father! I beseech Thee to strengthen me mightily by Thy Spirit,
that in living faith I may be able to accept and live the holiness
prepared for me in my Lord Jesus. Give me spiritual understanding to
know what it means that He sanctified Himself, that my sanctification is
secured in His, that as by faith I abide in Him, its power will cover my
whole life. Let His sanctification indeed be the law as it is the life
of mine. Let His surrender to Thy fatherly will, His continual
dependence and obedience, be its root and its strength. Let His death to
the world and to sin be its daily rule. Above all, _let Himself_, O my
Father! _let Himself_, as sanctified for me, the living Jesus, be my
only trust and stay. He sanctified Himself for me, that I myself also
may be sanctified in truth.
Beloved Saviour! how shall I rightly bless and love and glorify Thee for
this wondrous grace! Thou didst give Thyself, so that now I am holy in
Thee. I give myself, that in Thee I myself may be made holy in truth.
Amen. Lord Jesus! Amen.
1. 'If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross, and follow me.' Jesus means that our life shall be
the exact counterpart of His, including even the crucifixion. The
beginning of such a life is the denial of self, to give Christ its
place. The Jews would not deny self, but '_denied_ the Holy One,
and killed the Prince of Life.' The choice is still between Christ
and self. Let us deny the unholy one, and give him to the death.
2. The steps in this path are these: First, the deliberate decision
that self shall be given up to the death; then, the surrender to
Christ crucified to make us partakers of His crucifixion; then,
'knowing that our old man is crucified,' the faith that says, 'I am
crucified with Christ;' and then, the power to live as a crucified
one, to glory in the cross of Christ.
3. This is God's way of holiness, a Divine mystery, which the Holy
Spirit alone can daily maintain in us. Blessed be God, it is the
life which a Christian can live, because Christ lives in us.
4. The central thought is: We are in Christ, who gave up His will
and did the will of God. By the Holy Spirit the mind that was in
Him is in us, the will of self is crucified, and we live in the
will of God.
[8] See Note D.
Eighteenth Day.