Be Sanctified
A Call to Holiness
For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.
— Leviticus 11:44
The command, “Ye shall be holy” followed by “For I am holy” leaves us no room to negotiate what kind of life God demands of his children. It is neither a suggestion, nor a recommendation to be sanctified. Holiness is the evidence of a life of a child whose Father is a Holy God! One cannot even claim “ignorance” for if we are truly born again, the supernatural state of life bears the signs of an incorruptible eternity.
Every soul that is brought into the Kingdom of God has been purchased with the “precious blood of Christ”. Faith is what needed to receive this grace of salvation:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
— John 1:12
Born into God’s Kingdom, we also inherit the right to call him “Abba, Father” through adoption. Through the power of the resurrected Christ, by faith, we are born again as new creatures into the Kingdom of God.
A Holy God has Holy Children
This divine act of translating a dead soul into the land of the living, is a spiritual process; but as carnal beings, we are still entombed in the dying flesh with all of its lusts. The need to be sanctified is imperative to a holy life. As children of the Almighty, we are commissioned with divine work while we are passing “the time of our sojourning” on earth; the sanctified are “saints in lights” sent from an eternal Kingdom with the Good News of God’s love for the world.
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
— Philippians 2:15
Saved by grace and left on earth, God entrusts his holy children with the task of shining the glorious light of Jesus Christ to bring men out of darkness toward eternal salvation. The need for a holy consecrated life is required both as testament of our relationship to a Holy God and as builders of a spiritual house.
Sanctified by the Word
Malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and evil speaking are attributes contrary to a saint of God. Peter exhorts us to “desire the sincere milk of the word” that is necessary to grow. Milk is required for the essential growth of a new born child, so the Word of God, vital for a child of God. The process of regeneration begins with laying aside fleshly lusts of the former life, for they “war against the soul”. Every living soul is planted with the incorruptible seed, “through the word of God” they will need every word that comes out of the mouth of God to come to spiritual maturity.
As emissaries from the Father sent back to walk this earth, we have been commissioned to testify Christ. Jesus prayed to his Father, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” The Truth purifies us from every lies, hypocrisy and insincerity. These carnal stains should be repugnant to a holy child of God who knows and holds the Truth in righteousness. An ever increasing zeal for the Truth is an authentic mark of a vivacious holy life.
Prayers of the Saints
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
— Luke 18:7
Crying out to God to be sanctified is a native response of a spiritual child who is living in a carnal flesh. Like a dirty spot on a pure white garment, the constant contamination of fleshly lusts causes the holy child of God to cry out to the Father be cleansed.
Our sanctification comes only from the Father; Jesus, our High Priest prayed for our sanctification, how much more do we need to pray to be continually sanctified? The mark of a sanctified priest is his constant prayers, not only for himself but “for them also which shall believe”. The saint’s prayer for his own sanctification matures into his cry for others to be sanctified.
Holy Builders
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
— 1Peter 2:5
An unholy builder cannot touch the holy things of God. For the spiritual house to be built, the builders must be holy priests. God has chosen a holy priesthood to set apart from the world; sending them toward the Head Cornerstone to build a holy habitation where the sacrifices that are offered are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The closer we get to Christ, these once dead stones will become living, sanctified and precious in the sight of the Father.
Knowing our calling and election is secured in God, we draw near to Jesus with hope of purification, just as he is pure. Joining with Christ as the first piece in the foundation of the spiritual house, the glory of God will be manifested through love.
The Sign of Glory
A sign of maturity is the desire to please the Father. Obedience to God causes us to shine the light of Christ in the midst of darkness.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
— 1 Peter 2:9
God has chosen this generation to light the way of redemption. The enormous task of salvation accomplished through mere mortals necessitates sanctified lives. The seed of light is sown in every hearts belonging to God. When incorruptible seed brings forth incorruptible fruit of light, the glory of God is revealed.
The “God of peace sanctify you wholly” by his Spirit; we are cleansed not because of our ability to isolate and barricade ourselves from evil:
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man.
— Matthew 7:19-20
The world was perfect until it was defiled through Adam’s disobedient. The redemptive work through the death of Christ grants the meek a new heart, a new spirit to form a new creature. This preternatural work by the Holy Spirit performed in those who have mortified the deeds of the flesh.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
— John 8:12
The mark of a true Christian is the ray of eternal glory continuously shining through this earthen vessel. Let the radiant splendor of Jesus penetrates every strands of humanity, illuminating this once utter darkness in perfect glory until we are forever be, sanctified.
