September 2 – Be Holy

Hope for Today: A Daily Devotion from Reasons for Hope*Jesus

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“Not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” 1 Peter 1:14-15

“Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure.” 2 Peter 1:10

“For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles.” 1 Peter 4:3

None can be so sure of salvation as to be forever free from fears and doubts. Confidence itself has its conflicts; therefore all diligence is required in order to attain a prevailing hope and to meet death with tranquility. We ought at all times to guard particularly against presumption since we do not know what temptations await us. It becomes us also to suppress the feeling that despises weaker Christians and the language that would urge them beyond what they are able to bear — ever remembering that our own experience is not to be stretched into an absolute rule for others, lest the doctrine of assurance, though a source of comfort, prove a torment to them who have not yet attained it.

Let all who have received a measure of grace be thankful — yet not rest in it; but press forward, fighting the good fight of faith till they lay hold on eternal life. If you indulge in any sin, it will make the eye of faith dim, and you will lose your assurance; therefore beware of sin. 

Devotion by Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky (1690—1774)