God, I thank You that I am not like other men

Hebrews 12:3-29

We are to seek ‘the holiness without which no one will see the Lord’ (14). This is not the ‘holiness’ of the Pharisee: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men…’ (Luke 18:11-12). It is the holiness that grows in the hearts and lives of those who have received ‘the grace of God’, those who have prayed, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner’ (15; Luke 18:13). We do not earn ‘the grace of God’ as a reward for our ‘holiness’. Salvation is ‘not our doing, it is the gift of God – not because of works, so that no one can boast’. There is a call to holiness. We are saved ‘for good works. Before we think about holiness, we must get first things first: ‘By grace you have been saved through faith…for good works’ (Ephesians 2:8-10). We must answer the call to salvation before we can answer the call to holiness.

Charles Cameron, better known as Charlie to his friends, lives in Scotland and is a member of the Church of Scotland. He owns several Christian blogs found at the following links: