05/21/2026 – “To Be Like Christ” – chapter 19 excerpt – pgs 242 – 243
“Alas, we are even sometimes subject to unbelief. If trials come that we do not expect or if our bodies grow faint, how liable we are to begin to doubt the faithful promise and thereby grieve the Holy Spirit. Lord, we cannot bear this. It is not enough for us that our garments are clean and that we walk uprightly before men. We long to walk before You in such a way that nothing would grieve Your Spirit, and exercise Your cleansing power upon us according to Your promise, “I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion” (Joel 3:21).
Oh, that everything might help us toward purity, for we crave it. We attend the things of the Spirit, and there is groaning within us to be utterly delivered from the things of the flesh, so that we may be a cleansed temple in spirit, soul and body, fit for the indwelling of the Holy One of Israel. Lord, help us, we pray, in our daily lives, to be as Christ was. If we are men of sorrows, may there be the same luster to our sorrow that there was to His, in patience and holy submission to divine law. If we are men of activity, may our work be like for He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). In all ways, may we seek the good of our fellowmen and the glory of our God.
We wish that Mel for Your house would consume us. We pray that we would be full of sacred warmth. We desire that our lips would be touched with a live coal so that a fire would be perpetually flaming and burning in us. We want to be living sacrifices unto God.
Bless us, we pray, in the areas of our example and influence. May we always have a beneficial effect on others. May there be a sweetness, and a light about us that all must be obliged to perceive. We do not create this for our own honor, but so that our light may “so shine before men, that they may see [our} good works, and glorify [our] Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Lord, grant us this!”
Soli Deo Gloria!