Grimy lessons from Covid
We are all used to the Covid mantra: Hands - Face - Space. To keep us from contracting Covid-19 we are all having to up our cleaning habits game. Washing our hands more regularly, avoiding touching and thereby infecting our faces and keeping a distance from potentially infected people.
We are learning to be cleansed or perhaps we might say sanctified from harmful invisible bugs.
In our A-Z of Salvation we've arrived at S which stands for Sanctification. This word comes from "sanctus" which means holy, pure, clean.
Sanctification is the work of God in our lives, whereby over time, God is making us more and more holy, less and less sinful and more and more pure. Our verse is 1 Corinthians 6:11:
"And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
We've been made holy in God's sight
This most beautiful salvation word is first of all a description of what God has done for every believer through his Son. He has sanctified us, cleansed us, purified us.
How has he done that? Well, it's a 'positional sanctification.' We are not - in point of fact - perfect, we all know that and Scripture teaches it. But in God's eyes we are perfect. The righteousness of Jesus is credited to our account - so to God we have obeyed his law fully; and Jesus has taken the blame for our sins on the cross, so that we are acquitted of all wrongdoing.
We are perfect in God's eyes! What an amazing salvation!
But more than that. God has given us new hearts which hate sin and love righteousness, and he has put his Holy Spirit in our hearts to purify us day by day.
Our Bible verse above was written by Paul after he listed a whole pile of nasty sins which would exclude us from God's kingdom. Paul says in effect, "some of you used to practice those sins but when you were converted God cleaned up your life, and washed those sins away, he sanctified you. So you simply cannot go back to them or tolerate them any longer."
Sanctification is a life-long process
If sanctification is a past tense action of God, it is also a present tense duty. We must be sanctified:
"It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality" (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
God wants his children to participate in the great work of sanctification. He wants us to put to death the misdeeds of the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.
Summing it All Up
We have been made holy, we now want to become holy, and we must become holy. That's what sanctification is all about.
Over the years every believer should be growing in holiness.
Don't get me wrong, some sins are as stubborn as tomato sauce on white linen to remove. But thank God he is working to make us holy, he is sanctifying us. And he wants us to work on holiness too. With all the patience in the world he bears with us and urges, prompts and leads us into the paths of righteousness for his Name's Sake.
A SONG FOR THE DAY
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold
Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within
Brian Doerksen
You can sing along HERE.
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our loving Father in heaven,
We thank you for your great patience with us. We thank you that over the years and through all the experiences of life you are working in our hearts and lives to make us holy.
We thank you for your Holy Spirit who makes us holy.
May we not grieve your precious Spirit but keep in step with him.
We pray this in Jesus' Name
Amen
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