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Holiness
| Bro John Aduje (Cotonou, Benin)
Cotonou Ecclesia, Bro John Aduje in centre
W
hat is holiness? If asked we will quickly
reply, “Set apart for a special purpose.”
Although it is true that we cannot finally
realize complete holiness until Jesus comes.
There is no other rule of righteousness than
that: God’s commandments are unmistak-
able. They are so very simple that we are
liable to forget them - and if we forget them,
we cannot be saved. We must keep them in
remembrance and act upon them. It is not
sufficient just to acknowledge them, we must
act upon them (Luke 6:46).
Now Jesus our master says that we are to be
kind to one another. If we are not, however
much we know the truth, we do not belong to
him. Our knowledge would then be to our
condemnation: “If any man has not the spirit
of Christ, he is none of his” (James 4:17).
Now besides kindness, the spirit of Christ was
a spirit of worship. He often retired to pray.
What did he say to the Samaritan woman in
John 4:24? What is the worship of God? It is
the deferential and reverential concentration
of the mind upon Him. Intelligently,
consciously, lovingly, adoringly, trustingly
and prayerfully with a deep sense of things
disclosed concerning Him to us in the truth.
That is the worship of God. It is an attitude
of mind requiring the highest abstraction
from the things of this world. Merely to
continue in sins and to dance as people in the
world do, that is not to worship, nor is it to
deliver a well-worded address to God when it
is not backed by a spiritual mind.
There is such a thing as drawing near with our
lips, while the heart is far away. Yahweh does
not like it. As He hated Israel for this, so
neither will He take it from us. We require to
abstract our minds from our surroundings and
to fix them on the Almighty, in whose hand
even our breath of life is. The worship of God
requires our attention: a complete fixing of
our mind upon Him, knowing that His ear is
open and that His eyes are upon us - hear
David (Psalm 139:5,12).
Now our meetings are designed for a collec-