The Blessed Life

Canon T.D. Harford-Battersby encourages us with the reminder that all of the attributes that we long for are in Christ Jesus Himself and that He has given us Himself. The following is taken from Keswick's Authentic Voice edited by Herbert F. Stevenson:

"The common idea of Christians is that with the help of the Holy Spirit we shall be able to accomplish, more or less perfectly, the work of our own sanctification, forgetting the clear testimony of God’s Word, 'Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord' (I Corinthians 1:30-31, R.V.). It is a blessed thing when we are brought to see that the Lord Himself is to be not only our righteousness but our sanctification also: or, as another Scripture says, 'What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit' (Romans 8:3-4).

"Thus, as I have said, our knowledge of the precepts and example of the Blessed Lord must be supplemented by our knowing Him in His divine Person and perfect work. We must know Him as God’s own Son, before whom every form of evil must quail; and we must know what His glorious work was which He undertook for us, i.e., not only to get pardon for us guilty ones, but also deliverance and cleansing for us defiled ones from the power of sin in our nature, and complete union with Himself by the Spirit. This and this only is God’s method for our sanctification. I do not say that a perfect condition of sinlessness is attainable here by any of us, but I do say that, if we succeed in understanding and employing the right method, the attainment of holiness is no longer the hopeless thing that it was, but a thing which we find to be practicable, not according to our own feeble measures, but 'according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will' (Ephesians 1:11).

". . . Our Savior says, 'Blessed are the pure in heart,' and adds, 'for they shall see God;' thus teaching not only that the sight of God is a privilege which will be awarded to the pure, but also that there will be provided a way by which this purity is attainable.

"What is this 'way'? We have already seen that it is Himself. 'The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.' This cleansing cannot mean only pardon: it must refer to purity also. There was a time, perhaps, when we had to restrict it to the former; but the context of the passage in which this text is found, as well as the general tenor of St. John’s writings, has convinced us that we ought not so to restrict it; that a purity of heart beyond what our natural thoughts could conceive is open to those who are willing to claim it, through the blood of Christ alone: and we are here to testify to this most blessed power of that blood, and we trust that our testimony will not be in vain, but that many will be led to put it to the test, by coming to be cleansed, and to realize what greater, fuller blessing there is for them in Christ, than any they have yet experienced."