All this loveliness of character

JEWELS from JAMES
 

(Choice devotional selections from
the works of John Angell James)

All this loveliness of character

"Without holiness no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14

An unholy person cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

There is a vast difference between sanctification—and the
common morality of life. There are many people who are  . . .
  very amiable in their dispositions,
  very just in their transactions,
  very excellent in all their relationships,
  very lovely in their general character;
but who at the same time, whatever esteem and
affection they may have—are not in a state of
sanctification. They  . . .
  have never been convinced of sin,
  have never exercised faith in Christ,
  have never been born of the Spirit,
  have never been brought to love God.

All this loveliness of character is but the beautiful
wildflower in the wilderness of unrenewed humanity.

There can be no true holiness apart from the principle
of supreme love to God. Until this is implanted in the
soul, we are under the dominion of supreme selfishness
—and all these excellences may be traced up to self!
God's law is not obeyed; God's glory is not sought,
because God Himself is not loved.

It is a melancholy spectacle, to see so much 'general
excellence of character' as we sometimes witness, all
fruitless to its possessor, as regards the eternal world,
for lack of that Divine principle which transmutes all
this apparently beautiful morality, into true godliness.

Without holiness, whatever amiable and lovely qualities
of a general kind we may possess, we are still . . .
  the children of wrath,
  the enemies of God,
  the subjects of unrenewed corruption,
  the heirs of perdition; and
  going on to everlasting destruction!

"Without holiness no one will see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14