For Paul every exercise of the Christian life was simply the grace of Jesus Christ imparted to him and lived out by him. To be holy meant to put on the Lord Jesus and all the robes of His perfect righteousness which Paul describes so often in his beautiful letters. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, he says to the Colossians, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness (Colossians 3:12). None of these things is regarded as an intrinsic quality in us. Rather, they are all imparted graces from the hand of Jesus. And even in the later years of life, and after the mature experience of a quarter of a century, we find Paul exclaiming, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may win Christ, and be found in him (Philippians 3:8-9). Lord, enable us today to go out, clothed in Thy robes of perfect rightness, and with our hearts in adjustment with Thy perfect love.
