Tag: sanctification

Because I Love You

July 13, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

My wife would likely faint if I bought her flowers for no reason. While there is no one else I would rather spend time with, and while I often tell her how much I love her, I rarely lavish her with flowers, candies, or gifts. If I suddenly did, she would wonder what I am up to.

I do, though, often ask to spend time with her. Though we work different hours, we manage to eat dinner together often, go to see a good movie occasionally or watch a TV show when we can. I love spending time with her. I want to be with her and I want her to be proud of me. Why? Because I know she loves me and also wants to be with me.

Isn’t that why we want to walk with Jesus? Don’t we want to be like Jesus because we love and admire Him? And, one reason we love and admire Him because He first loved us? Didn’t He demonstrate that love for us by rescuing us from sin and death through the sacrifice of His own life?

1 Thessalonians 4, Paul urges us to live in a manner that pleases God. Then he mentions specifics. Let’s read it together. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 (NKJV):

As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

Paul is writing to the Christian Church; he calls them brothers and sisters. He distinguishes their behavior from that of the pagans, and tells them that God expects them to be different. The pagans are sexually immoral, depraved, and are ruled by passion and lust. He encourages Christians to control their bodies and to be act with honor, to be holy.

It is God’s will that we be sanctified, Paul says. God called us to be holy, not impure.

So what does God mean when He tells us to avoid sexual immorality? The Greek word used to express sexual immorality is porneia, which is from where we drive the terms pornography and fornication. While the term pornography likely needs no definition, many may be unfamiliar with the word fornication. Fornication means two people who are not married to each other sharing sexual relations.

So, is that the definition of sanctification? Does it mean giving up certain sexual practices that are sinful? No. There is much more to it than that. Sexual immorality is what Paul wished to address, but it is simply one small part of living a holy life.

Is we love God, we will want to please Him, and turning away from sexual immorality is just one of many things that Paul mentions in this book.

That, though, is not the real point is this devotion. I am not here to create an updated list of thou shalt nots.

I am here to tell you that God loves you and doesn’t want to see you hurt, and sexual immorality leads to destruction.

Avoid destruction and let Him rid you of sexual perversion and lust and fill you instead with His love.

Working My Way Back…?

July 4, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

An old disco song from the early 80s contained these lyrics:

I’ll be working my way back to you, babe, with a burning love inside

Yeah, I’m working my way back to you, babe, and the happiness that died

I let it get away

That old hit (written by Denny Randall and Sandy Linzer) could easily be made into a Christian song, but it would be so wrong. In the song, released by the Spinners in late 1979, the story teller boasts to his love that, even though he has cheated and emotionally abused her, he begs her forgiveness and will be “working my way back to you.”

Too often, Christians feel the same way. We promise God that we love Him and will never go back to our habitual sins (this that we love so much). Then, when we fall into the same old trap and sin again, we set out to work our way back into His favor.

The thing is, that doesn’t work for God. When Christ died for us, His sacrifice was for all our sin, past or future. Neither salvation nor sanctification is based on our merit. We can earn neither.

Then how does one become sanctified? Through faith, just like salvation. Read Hebrews 10:10:

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

We have been sanctified. Notice that the word “sanctified” is passive. We are not sanctifying ourselves; rather, God has sanctified us.

Because we are human, stuck in bodies, with imperfect minds, and fragile emotions, we are no more able to live a holy life than we are able to save ourselves from hell.

Why, then, so most Christians get hung up on how we live? Because we often confuse sanctification and holiness with discipleship. Nothing we do will get us into heaven. Nothing we do will make God love us more.

Likewise, so long as we are believers in Jesus Christ, nothing we do will lose is our spot in heaven, and nothing we do will cause God to live is less.

This may sound radical to many in A holiness church, but it is true. There is a place for holy living and Good sites call us to separate ourselves from the world, but we are unable to do either.

We cannot live a holy life. We can only have faith that Christ can live His life through me. Only He can sanctify me and only He can live a holy life through me.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Whiter Than Snow

July 1, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

“Awww… Why do I have to take a bath?” Nancy complained as her dad called her into the house. “Yeah,” agreed her little brother, Billy. “We already washed!”

Their dad tried his best to suppress his grin, but didn’t quite succeed. Mother, on the other hand, was not amused in the least. She gently swatted at Nancy’s bottom as she came in the house. “Take a bath, now, young lady.” Turning to Billy with folded arms, she said, “and you, too, young man.” The children avoided Mom’s eyes and marched into the bathroom.

Billy, four, just could not understand why he needed a bath, for – after all – they had been playing in the rain. The rain is clean, isn’t it? When he climbed up on a step and looked in the mirror, he saw was a clean face and a bright smile. He licked his finger and smoothed his curly black hair. “But, Mom!” he called. “I don’t need a bath!”

“You did it now,” said Nancy, who had already crawled into the waiting bubble bath, and was dutifully scrubbing away mud and grime.

“Get in the tub,” Mom said, grabbing Billy by the ear with just a little less force than a bulldozer. She led him to the tub and made him crawl in. “WASH,” she commanded. She stormed out of the room.

“Now look, you made her angry at us,” said Nancy.

“Did not.”

“Did, too.”‘

“It’s your fault. If you hadn’t already started taking a bath…”

“It’s not my fault,” insisted Nancy.

Dad came in and sat down by the tub. Wash cloth in hand, he checked behind their ears, and rewashed their necks. “Now,” he said. “Good as new. Now, get dressed for bed.”

Billy climbed up to the mirror again. “I don’t look any different than before.”

“You still look like a wild pig,” said Nancy, laughing at her little brother.

“You don’t think the bath did any good?” Dad asked Billy.

“Nope,” replied the boy. “I had already washed outside in the puddles.”

Dad nodded at the slow-draining tub. “Then where did all this dirt come from?”

Billy and Nancy peered into the tub of dirty water. Their jaws dropped.

“It’s all from her, Dad. I was already clean,” said Billy.

Sometimes, even when we think we are clean, our Father knows better.

Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:5-7 NIV