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Shield Daily Devotional  

Day 158

The conclusion of this process of separation should take us to a place of perfecting holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1). The word "perfecting" in the Greek is in the present tense. This means that continuous action is what is to occur, You don't make a decision to be holy and clean up some problem areas of your life and think you are done. No; this is to be an ongoing process.

This is where so many people miss it when it comes to holiness. Yes, there is a place of definite surrender; however, there is a daily cleansing that needs to be sought. When you understand the continuous action required, this will become more real to you. You are to perfect holiness in your life by cleansing yourself from the filthiness of flesh (what you can see) and spirit (what you cannot see), but you are to continually do so. Adam Clarke said of perfecting holiness: "Getting the whole mind of Christ brought into the soul. This is the grand object of a genuine Christian's pursuit. The means of accomplishing this are, 1. Resisting and avoiding sin, in all its inviting and seducing forms. 2. Setting the fear of God before our eyes, that we may dread his displeasure, and abhor whatever might excite it, and whatever might provoke him to withhold his manna from our mouth. We see, therefore, that there is a strong and orthodox sense in which we may cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, and thus perfect holiness in the fear of God."

From Clarke's words, you can easily see the necessity of a daily cleansing. Who has the whole mind of Christ? No one; however, we should have more today than yesterday but not as much as we will have tomorrow. Today make a real concentrated effort to "perfect holiness" in your life. You do so by daily cleansing yourself of all filthiness of flesh and spirit. Sometimes you have to scrub hard but you can get clean through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 
 
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