Perfection

“Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth.” (John 17:17)

Jesus prayed to the Father for Him to sanctify His disciples who believed on Him then and those who would believe, which includes us. “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” (John 17:9) Not only do we belong to Jesus, but to the Father. When Jesus prayed sanctify them, the Greek word means to make holy or consecrate, set them apart for the Lord’s glory. Jesus gave us a clue as how this is to happen. It’s through God’s Word which is Truth.

God’s Word is alive. It was God’s Word that created the world. God spoke and it was. What God said and says is a done thing in God’s kingdom where there is no time. The past, present and future is known at the same time. “For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

The certainty of God’s Truth is that it is. It’s not a hope that it is Truth, but it is. This is the reason faith is so powerful. It’s based on God’s Truth, a surety that it’s a done deal. “These (all those named in the previous Scriptures that lived by faith) all died by way of faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. And they were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13) They believed without a doubt what God said and died believing before His Word was fulfilled.

The Truth of God’s Word sets us apart for Him. God’s Word tells us that He has plans for us. These plans are good for us, for a good future and gives us hope when life here on this earth gets difficult. “For I know the purposes which I am purposing for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) We well know that life is constantly changing for us. But regardless of our situation and the circumstances we find ourselves in we have God’s Word that His plans for us are good and for a good future. When we believe His Word, we don’t despair. We cling to His promise and know that the difficult times will pass according to God’s Will for us.

God’s plans for us is sanctification, a setting apart of a people who love God and obey God for His purposes. What does all that mean? First sanctification involves the process of becoming more like Christ. We are all in that process as we grow in the knowledge of God and His Word. We sin or see the inclination of sin in our flesh and repent surrendering to the Holy Spirit to work in us to purge that inclination out from us so that in becoming more like Christ we abhor the sin and want nothing to do with it, much like Jesus had nothing to do with sin. This is a work of the Holy Spirit in us. It emphasizes the fact that we are far from God’s perfection, but each day we are being made holy by the work of the Holy Spirit. And with each victory over temptation, we are becoming more like Jesus. “But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit.” (2Corinthians 3:18)

To sum it up, Jesus prayed for us to be sanctified. We learned that sanctification happens through God’s Word and the Holy Spirit working in us. We are being perfected into the image of Christ until we see Him face to face.

Let us pray:

Father God, Your work is perfect. The work of the Holy Spirit in me is perfect and eternal. I yield to the Holy Spirit. I yield to His sanctifying work to purge the world and the flesh from me. Help me to see what I need to repent of and to surrender my spirit to the purifying work of the Holy Spirit. Help me to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit so that He can change me more each time into the image of Christ. The purification from the world is a spiritual work which seems never ending because the world continually defiles me with its lures and the flesh continually demands from my heart. But I desire the purity of the holiness that comes with yielding to You Lord. Help me to not be led astray even for a second by the bewitching of the world and the dictates of the flesh. Let my love for You Lord and for Your Word and the power of the Holy Spirit keep me in obedience until You call me to my eternal home. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.