How do We Become Holy?

 

“Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,”  Acts 3:19

“The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:9

 I set out this morning on a challenge. The verses I was given deal with repentance, which I acknowledge is crucial both in our salvation and in walking out our life with Christ. But why? The more I looked at these verses, the more I felt like they applied to unbelievers and their coming to Christ. So what is the role of repentance in a believer? What does the Bible have to say about that?
 

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.  (1 John 1:7-10 NIV)

  It took a lot longer than I had expected to find answers today, but I am so glad that by the grace of God I persevered because I can now feel satisfied in my understanding. You see, it all comes down to a fancy word, sanctification.
 

SANCTIFICA'TION, noun [See Sanctify.]

1. The act of making holy. In an evangelical sense, the act of God's grace by which the affections of men are purified or alienated from sin and the world, and exalted to a supreme love to God.

God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2:13. 1 Peter 1:2.

2. The act of consecrating or of setting apart for a sacred purpose; consecration. (1)

 

 As I prayerfully went about diving into the idea of sanctification, I happened upon this article (2). Again, I am so very grateful when, with the cluttering minutia of the internet, God directs me to exactly what I need to read! I learned so much from this article, and from reading the scriptures that it references, and I’m excited to share it with you today. 

 Sanctification, the act of making holy, has three phases in the life of a believer. The first, or initial, phase takes place at the point of conversion. The moment we put our faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are credited with His righteousness and holiness. This is also called justification. Our sins are washed away and the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. You see, in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived in the presence of God. They had His Holy Spirit with them. According to the article, “Adam and Eve's prefallen sanctification was not a result of their inherent capabilities. God's indwelling presence was responsible for the manifestation of his attributes in them. Sanctification always requires God's presence.” (2). When we give our lives to Christ and accept His gift of salvation, His Holy Spirit comes to live in us again, as it was before the fall. We are sanctified by His presence.

 

 So, if we are sanctified, why do we keep sinning? I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been perfect and pure since I started walking with Jesus 25 years ago. The reason for this is that while our spirit is sanctified by Christ, we are still living in our fallen, fleshly bodies. Because of this, we are still under the influence of the sin nature. Yep, that one took a little research too!

 

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Gal 5:17-18 NIV) 

 So, the Spirit and the sinful nature are in conflict with each other. They want different things. The Spirit wants to sanctify us, to make us holy, to cause us to glorify God. According to the article, “Human beings "fall short of God's glory" ( Rom 3:23 ) because they lack God's presence, which produces glory. "Glory" is always the manifestation of the attributes of God resulting from the presence of God.” We cannot glorify God without His presence in our lives. Once we believe and are made children of God through Jesus, however, that presence is now with us again and we can glorify Him as we were designed to! This progressive stage of our sanctification takes place from the moment we give ourselves to God and continues until He brings us home to be with Him forever. You will never reach the fullness of your sanctification on this earth. If God still has you here, then He still has work to do in you.

 

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV)

 

 Last comes the final phase of sanctification which happens when we are joined forever with our Savior in Heaven.
 

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  (1 John 3:2 NIV)

 When we see Him, we will be like Him. Finally, all of our sin nature will be swept away and we can live in the perfect peace of God’s holiness. There will be no more sorrow, pain or tears (Revelation 21:4). Everything will be perfect and wonderful!

 Here’s the Thing: As I’ve mentioned before, we are living in the almost but not yet. We are justified by Christ’s blood and given His holiness. Yest we are still influenced by our sin nature as long as we are on this earth, in these fallen bodies. So, as long as we are here, the Holy Spirit is working in us to sanctify us and make us more and more like Christ. God loves us so much that He doesn’t leave us where we are at when we come to Him. One day, though, we will be fully like Him, when see Him as He is!

  1. (1)    Websters Dictionary 1828 - Webster’s Dictionary 1828 - Sanctification. (n.d.). Websters Dictionary 1828. https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/sanctification
  2. (2)    What is Sanctification? Bible Definition and Meaning. (n.d.). Bible Study Tools. https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sanctification/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At least it's not bad news

Image
  Radical tumor removal is not always possible because of the critical brainstem or diencephalic locations of some tumors. Tumor progression and eventual death are likely in such patients. Stereotactic radiosurgery for pilocytic astrocytomas part 1: outcomes in adult patients Kano et. al.  So my posts are usually preceded by a scripture verse, often an encouraging one. Today I needed to give you an insight into what I've been experiencing. From the time I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, about a year and a half ago, I was reassured that it was a "WHO grade 1 benign" tumor. I, mistakenly, took this to mean that it wasn't a big deal. Even when I was told in June that it had grown "slightly," I thought that meant they'd zap it with radiation and that'd be the end of it. Guess what, I was wrong. When my June MRI revealed growth, I was referred to the Tumor Center for treatment. Fearing a long, drawn-out process, I was relieved when they scheduled all my...
Read more

The Next Crazy Thing

Image
Buckle in! This is a processing post so it is likely to be long and wordy and emotional and probably flawed in many ways. I thank you for your patience and anyone who makes it to the end gets bonus points in my book 😏.  Let's start with the info. I've been having progressively more intense, more frequent, and longer lasting migraines. Since my eye surgery in May, I've also been experiencing a great deal of nausea, almost daily. Sometimes meds help (with either), sometimes they don't. In addition, since the eye surgery, my double vision has intensified. My depth perception is shot, I'm regularly missing things I grab for, mistaking curbs for cracks in the sidewalk, bumping into walls or counters. Those are the three things that neurosurgery told us to watch for with regards to the shunt functioning properly: headaches, nausea, and vision changes. Now the vision changes were probably because of the surgery and the nausea was probably  because of the migraines, but th...
Read more

When "Wait and See" Wouldn't Sound so Bad

Image
    Ten days after I received the call letting me know that they found something on the MRI I was sitting in the office of a Neurosurgeon.  I have no doubt that God orchestrated the circumstances that had brought me there, including a friend who is also dealing with a brain tumor recommending this clinic. But how could any of this be real? Only a couple of people knew what was going on, but there wasn't much to know before this appointment. All we had were a few key phrases on the MRI Study Result and our dear friend, Dr. Google.  I went into the appointment with the impression that the doctor would either recommend watching and waiting, doing another MRI in six months and seeing if anything changed, or taking it out right away.  In previous encounters where the option was to wait or do something I have vastly preferred doing something, but this time it was different. I had read about the potential complications of surgery and I was scared.  Not to men...
Read more