The Deep Work of Sanctification

UV 3707/10000 The Deep Work of Sanctification Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through ( that is, separate you from profane and vulgar things, make you pure and whole and undamaged- consecrated to Him- set apart for His purpose); and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and (be found) blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I Thessalonians 5 v 23 We have peace with God through the justification provided by the shed blood, the sacrifice of Jesus but the peace will be complete only if we participate in the lifelong process of sanctification. Yes, we are co-participants in our own spiritual growth and fruitfulness. There is a sculpture of a sculptor working on the shapeless parts of his own body, signifying that man should work on himself to be complete, whole, perfect. The Holy Spirit points out the areas where we need to work on ourselves and we should wholeheartedly submit to the process the Spirit initiates in us. We are to be separated from the corruption of this world, from the sinfulness, the wickedness, the profane aspects of this world. The vision or goal we should have for ourselves is that we should be presented to the Lord Jesus at His coming again as a finished work, a perfected being, a whole and complete person re-created in the image of Christ. To this end, we need to work on spirit, mind and body as the Holy Spirit spotlights or directs. Our growth to maturity is holistic since it involves spirit, mind and body. Our growth to fruitfulness is also holistic in that we produce fruit in accordance with our repentance, fruit of the spirit, mind and body, dedicated to the Lord. For all types of growth, inputs are required. The inputs for our spiritual, wholesome growth are increasing prayer, increasing time and focus on the Word of God, increasing times of fellowship, worship and witness. Both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of these inputs need to increase over time. Working on oneself to be complete and whole is the most challenging aspect of our faith and our lives. Without grace of God, we cannot do it successfully. We must be careful not to allow our spirit, mind or body from being contaminated by the world. The virus of lust or pride should not affect our attitudes, our thoughts, emotions, words or actions and reactions. There is no one vaccine or remedy for such a virus but we need to depend on the Lord, ask for more and more wisdom and grace to deal with it. Often the virus is dormant or incipient in us much like the herpes zoster virus that remains in our bodies long after we first contract chicken pox and emerges when we are under stress to cause full blown episode of herpes zoster. The work of sanctification or chipping away at our own flaws and building Christ-like caliber and qualities in us is not only lifelong, it is a deep work. Hence, the Psalmist says, “ Deep calls out to the deep.” We need to cry out from the depth of our souls and spirits to the Lord to help us discern our own flaws and give us breakthroughs, victories, enablement to overcome, to establish, to build. Spiritual warfare begins in us as we tear down strongholds of the enemy within us and build what the Lord wants to see in us, what pleases Him. Like Jesus cleansed the public temple and broke down His own body, the temple of God, we need to be ruthless with ourselves in driving out any remnants of sin or lust or pride in us.