November 1
Perfection
and Preservation
"Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do
it." (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
What will He do? He will sanctify us wholly. See the previous verse. He will carry on the
work of purification till we are perfect in every part. He will preserve our "whole
spirit, and soul, and body, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." He
will not allow us to fall from grace, nor come under the dominion of sin. What great
favors are these! Well may we adore the giver of such unspeakable gifts.
Who will do this? The Lord who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, out
of death in sin into eternal life in Christ Jesus. Only He can do this: such perfection
and preservation can only come from the God of all grace.
Why will He do it? Because He is "faithful"--faithful to His own promise which
is pledged to save the believer; faithful to His Son, whose reward it is that His people
shall he presented to Him faultless, faithful to the work which He has commenced in us by
our effectual calling. It is not their own faithfulness but the Lord's own faithfulness on
which the saints rely.
Come, my soul, here is a grand feast to begin a dull month with. There may be fogs
without, but there should be sunshine within.
|