Sanctification is a difficult concept to understand. In this daily devotional, Pastor Steve explains how the process of sanctification leads us to holy lives.
Nuggets
- Sanctification is the process through which we are called to live holy lives.
- Living holy lives means living blameless lives.
- Sanctification is based on our love for God.
Devotions in the Pastor Steve Sermon Series
Sanctification is one of those churchy words that we often here tossed around during a church service. It is among the many jargon words used in the church that many people do not know what it really means.
If we look it up in the dictionary, we will see that sanctification means, “the action of making or declaring something holy.” So, in simplest terms, sanctification is going through the process of being sanctified, or being made holy.
What Is Sanctification?
"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy'" (I Pet. 1: 13-16 ESV)
Sanctification is the process through which we are called to live holy lives.
If we read through 1 Peter 1:13-16, we will get a good idea of what the call of becoming sanctified or going through the process of sanctification is all about. What we are talking about here is known as a call to holy living.
Least I be misunderstood, I want to make clear that once we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are redeemed and technically sanctified. However, there is a call upon our lives thereafter for us to seek to live our lives out in holy living.
Not because we are earning our salvation or somehow performing what is necessary to be sanctified. Rather, it is a way of doing things because we love Jesus, and HE calls us into living a holy life.
In the passage of Scripture in I Peter, he quotes Leviticus 11: 44-45, where God says to be holy because He is holy. This passage in Leviticus also instructs us to not defile ourselves.
Now, some would say, “Well, that’s the Old Testament and that doesn’t really matter anymore! I’m saved! We are living in the age of Grace now!” I beg to differ with you.
There are plenty of places in the New Testament that tell us the same thing. For example, the Apostle Paul wrote in Roman 6:2 about whether we should sin more so that grace may abound. To this, he says, “By no means! How can we who died to sin live in it?” (NIV). The answer to the question Paul raises here is, we can’t!
Living the Holy Life
Living holy lives means living blameless lives.
The main thing we need to keep in mind is that as Christians living a holy life, we are not to see how close we can get up to the line of where sin ends, and grace begins. What benefit is that to our spiritual life?
No, the thing we are to do is strive to live a holy, blameless life and keep far away from that line so that we remain sanctified in Jesus Christ. In order to be holy, because God is holy, we must follow how He desires for us to live and remain pleasing to Him and stay in fellowship with Him.
Now, someone may say that this is a works-oriented theology. I say that is true to the extent that we are living out our lives to be pleasing to God.
That certainly does take a lot of work. However, if it truly is such a hard thing to do, would Jesus have beckoned for us who are weak and heavy-laden to come to Him, for his yoke is easy and His burden is light, if it were not true? (Mt. 11: 28-30)
I think, too many times, we get wrapped up in the mindset that WE must do X, Y and Z, and try to do everything ourselves and leave God completely out of it.
As a part of being sanctified, we can participate in a communal relationship with God, where we can come boldly to His throne in prayer, seeking His face, His help, and His comfort. We can do that completely and be unafraid to do so.
We can get so wrapped up in the mindset of keeping proper reverence toward God, that we forget He is our “Abba Father” our daddy, as it were. He longs for us to come to Him, crawl up into His lap and rest from all our trials and temptations. He wants this from you.
Being Sanctified
"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful" (Col. 3: 15 ESV)
Sanctification is based on our love for God.
So, how does this relate to sanctification and being sanctified? Holiness, godliness, being sanctified, all come from the same thing.
It is the outward manifestation of our love for God. If we are truly as close to God as we should be, we are going to be, out of the obvious outflow of our love for Him, living a life of a sanctified person in Jesus Christ.
The more we seek His will for our lives; the more we desire to be pleasing to Him, because we love Him. The more we let the Spirit who dwells within us do His work in us, the more we are going to be living the holy life that God desires for us to live. It is something that builds upon the love that we have for God.
One of the key things that we need to keep in mind is the word let. If we do a word study in the Bible, we will see the number of times that we are instructed to “Let…” something happen within us.
For example, we are instructed in Colossians 3:15 to “let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts…” This implies that we can do the opposite: NOT let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.
It is so important that we develop the habit of controlling our thoughts and giving everything that concerns us, worries us, and takes our thoughts off Jesus. Can we truly live a holy, sanctified life if we are listening to the lies the devil feeds into our minds constantly? Can we truly believe that we are being pleasing to God if we cannot have the faith necessary to believe him for the littlest concerns, we have?
If we cannot do that, how can we believe Him for the needs we have that are “big” things? We cannot. That is being double-minded and as James puts it, those who are double-minded cannot expect to receive anything from God (Jas. 1: 6-7).
How Do We Apply This?
We must learn to LET God have the control over our lives that He desires to have. We must believe and have faith that He desires only good for us as the Bible says, because if we are not doing so, we are not walking in a sanctified, holy life. How do we know?
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb. 11: 6 ESV)
To be able to live a sanctified life, we must be able to draw near to God every day. Given what this verse says, we cannot live a life that lacks faith in God in any fashion and be pleasing to Him and be able to draw near to him. And to be able to draw near to Him, we need to believe He exists and that He DOES reward those who seek Him.
I am completely aware how difficult it is to constantly walk in faith. Sometimes, it feels nearly impossible.
But you know what? God knows that about us. He created us after all.
The most loving thing He has done for us to is make it so that we can be scared and tell Him we are. He has made us to do just that. He has desired this from the time we were conceived.
And when we are scared; don’t have enough faith; don’t really want to do what He wants us to do, we can tell Him and seek His comfort and encouragement. After all, He knows that we feel that anyway.
Who do we think we are hiding it from? Certainly not God.
So, sanctification is the process of being made sanctified — holy. It is an ongoing process, I believe.
I used to think that God waved His hand over us one time and — poof — we are sanctified. As I have gotten older, more “experienced” in this Christian walk I am on, I have come to believe being sanctified is an ongoing process that we walk out in our godly living.
It is not our salvation; it is how we work out our Christian lives.
Some days we do it great. Others we may have to go back to God and confess our sins and start afresh for that day.
I believe it is something that we can choose to do or not do, but there’s obvious benefits for choosing to do it that we don’t want to miss.
I am sure there are those who will disagree with me on this, and that’s okay. I’m letting you know what I believe God has been telling me lately. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.
I want to leave you with this: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word” (II Thess. 2: 16-17 ESV).
Heavenly Father, we seek your guidance as we continue to walk the path on which you have us. Please guide and direct us into living out a godly, sanctified life and help us you reach people for you as a part of our daily living. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
What do you think?
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