Aspiring to holiness

What shall we do to resemble God in holiness?

(1.) Have recourse to Christ’s blood by faith. This is lavacrum animae [the washing of the soul]. Legal purifications were types and emblems of it. I John 1:1. The Word is a glass to show us our spots, and Christ’s blood is a fountain to wash them away.

(2.) Pray for a holy heart. ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God.’ Psa 51:10. Lay thy heart before the Lord, and say, Lord, my heart is full of leprosy; it defiles all it touches; Lord, I am not fit to live with such a heart, for I cannot honour thee; nor die with such a heart, for I cannot see thee. Oh create in me a clean heart; send thy Spirit into me, to refine and purify me, that I may be a temple fit for thee the holy God to inhabit.

(3.) Walk with them that are holy. ‘He that walketh with the wise shall be wise.’ Prov 13:30. Be among the spices and you will smell of them. Association begets assimilation. Nothing has a greater power and energy to effect holiness than the communion of saints. [Thomas Watson]