To quicken the quest for holiness in people - which is the end of all religious nurture - four steps are necessary.
First, to convince people that it is God’s intention that man should be holy; that nothing less can satisfy His ambitions for His earthly children and that, keeping this fact in mind, a devout man may often murmur to himself, ‘He wills that I should holy be’. Secondly, to nourish in the people faith in the possibility of holiness. The difficult question of ultimate and ineffable perfection can be left aside if only because it involves questions of completeness as well as of purity, and stretches the mind into the vast aeons of eternity. But if the promises of the New Testament are kept in mind, and there are no mental reservations about the power of the Holy Spirit, the life of constant victory over sin by the might of God can be held before the people as a possibility in this life. We can say of all the powers of hell,
They cannot keep a blessing back
By heaven designed for me.
Thirdly, to hold perfection before the people in all its fulness in Jesus. In Him every virtue is balanced with its complementary virtue! The vices of good men are often shadows cast by their virtues. Because they are so morally strong, they lack tenderness. Because they are so generous, a proper prudence is wanting. But in Jesus the balance and harmony are all there. This is perfection - the uttermost that can appear in a sinful world. [part II]