So, strictly speaking, sanctification does not destroy
self, but it destroys selfishness--the abnormal and mean and dis-
ordered manifestation and assertion of self. I myself am to be
sanctified, rectified, purified, brought into harmony with God's
will as revealed in His word, and united to Him in Jesus, so that
His life of holiness and love flows continually through all the
avenues of my being, as the sap of the vine flows through all
parts of the branch. "I am the Vine, ye are the branches," said
Jesus.
When a man is thus filled with the Holy Spirit he is not made
into a putty man, a jelly fish, with all powers of resistance
taken out of him; he does not have any less force and "push" and
"go" than before, but rather more, for all his natural energy is
now reinforced by the Holy Spirit, and turned into channels of
love and peace instead of hate and strife.
He may still feel indignation in the presence of wrong, but it
will not be rash, violent, explosive, and selfish, as before he
was sanctified, but calm and orderly, and holy, and determined,
like that of God. It will be the wholesome, natural antagonism of
holiness and righteousness to all unrighteousness and evil.
Such a man will feel it when he is wronged, but it will be much
in the same way that he feels when others are wronged. The
personal, selfish element will be absent. At the same time there
will be pity and compassion and yearning love for the wrong-doer
and a greater desire to see him saved than to see him punished.
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