May You Be Completely Sanctified - May 22

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Reflect

What does it mean to be justified and sanctified?

Theologians use big words all the time. You may have heard them use the terms justification and sanctification. For example, one of our recent messages quoted, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:10). But what does it mean to be justified?

Gotquestions.org explains justification as “an act of God by which those who are unrighteous in themselves are nevertheless declared righteous before God while still in the sinning state.” We are justified, or made right with God, when we place our faith in Him for salvation. When we do that, God takes Jesus’ righteousness and gives it to us, unrighteous sinners. He declares us righteous and free from guilt because of Jesus’ righteousness, not our own. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

In today’s verses, the apostle Paul signed off on his first letter to the church at Thessalonica with a benediction. In it, he prayed that God would sanctify them completely. But what does it mean to be sanctified?

According to the Essential Bible Dictionary, sanctification is “the process or result of being made holy.” While justification is a one time event, sanctification is a lifelong process. That’s because Christians still sin sometimes. They aren’t perfectly holy as Christ is holy. But the process of becoming more and more like Christ has begun.

In other words, Paul was praying that the believers in Thessalonica would become more and more like Christ. But notice, Paul didn’t suggest that the people must muster up the ability to be godly in their own strength. We can’t, in our own power, completely separate ourselves from sin. Rather, Paul prayed that God himself would sanctify them entirely.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, Paul told the Thessalonians that it is God’s will for them to be sanctified, made holy, and set apart. Sanctification is God’s will for all believers of all times and in all places. After we place our faith in Him for salvation, that is the next step in the process—day by day, step by step, we become more like Christ until we are made perfectly holy as He is holy.

I don’t know about you, but I often get discouraged because I have been a believer for most of my life and while I’ve certainly seen growth in holiness, I still wrestle with sin. But I know that I will be completely sanctified and perfected in eternity. I can’t do it on my own. But He is faithful and He will surely do it!

Of sanctification, Charles Spurgeon wrote: “Some Christians overlook the blessing of sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant. If we could be saved from wrath, and yet remain unregenerate, impenitent sinners, we should not be saved as we desire, for we mainly and chiefly pant to be saved from sin and led in the way of holiness.”

Jesus did not suffer and die on that cross so that we might trust Him but remain stuck in our sins. He didn’t come merely to forgive our sins, either. He came to save us from our sins! He came to deliver us from their power over us! He doesn’t give us eternal life so that we’ll continue to wallow in sin forever. No, He gives us a new life in Him.

Dear reader, that is our prayer for you, too—that “the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God is faithful. He WILL do it.

Respond

Lord, I want to be holy as You are holy. And yet, so often, I still struggle with the same old sins. I can’t overcome them on my own. Please help me. I know that You are faithful and that You will surely sanctify me so that I can live with You forever—pure and blameless. Amen.

Reveal

Our changed lives reveal God’s work in us! Be ready to give an explanation whenever someone asks you why you’ve changed.