God's Glory in the Church

Me? Sanctified?

The Bible speaks frequently about God's people being holy, sanctified, and set apart. A verse in today's lesson reminds me of that; listen to a piece of it. "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit" (2 Thessalonians 2:13). So one way of explaining my salvation is that God accomplishes it through the sanctifying work of His own Spirit. That means our salvation hangs on our sanctification.

Sanctification is wonderful and blessed. It can also be a continuing frustration and even discouragement. I say that because some days I just don't feel very sanctified . . . then the devil has a hey-day introducing his doubts into my mind. Also, all too often I don't act, talk, or even think in a sanctified fashion . . . and then the devil really has a fistful of ammo to use on me. Two questions come fairly naturally:

"What's wrong with me?!"

"What happened to my sanctification?"

Sanctification requires a separation from profane things and a dedication to God. Sanctify means "to consecrate or purify." The biggest hindrance to sanctification is our own flesh (Romans 7:18). It constantly tries to act contrary to our sanctification. I know grudges and bitterness, lust and covetousness, deceit and evil speaking are wrong. In consecrating myself to God I have rejected these and other profane things. But my flesh thoroughly enjoys every fling it manages into any of them! Does this mean that my dedication to God is destroyed every time I fail? No!

Sanctification is a position and a process. When I surrendered my life to the Lordship of Jesus, God declared me just and sanctified. That is my position in Jesus; that is called "beginning in the Spirit" (Galatians 3:3). As long as my heart is perfect toward God and my spirit earnestly strives to remain submissive to Him, my position is secure. However, that position does not translate into immediate, 100% practical, livable sanctification. My flesh and the devil see to that. That is where the process of sanctification enters in. Day in and day out, my flesh must be crucified, denied, brought into subjection. God works in conjunction with my spirit to make it exercise increasing control over my flesh. God began something good and He will continue working on it! "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).

No, the process of sanctification does not happen all at once. But our position of sanctification is established very quickly. From that position of strength we can daily deal with our flesh in a continuous process of cleansing through exposure to truth. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17).