This summer my church is having a weekly Bible study over the fruits of the Spirit. As this study started God put the word sanctify on my heart. If you’ve been following my posts very long you know I’m a self-confessed word nerd, so what do I do? I studied the word sanctification and I wanted to share with you what I learned. Maybe it will open your eyes to a new perspective on your journey with God as it did for me.
Sanctification is to set apart for special use or to make them holy. Read that again.
Once we accept Jesus as our savior we are set apart. “By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.” Hebrews 10:10 Now, here comes the part that opened my eyes: we are working towards being like Jesus (holy).
As believers, we are to produce fruit. The fruit should come naturally as we walk with the Lord daily. Growing in the knowledge of Jesus is part of sanctification and if we’re not willing to put the work in to cultivate the soil of our hearts then we can not expect our fruit to grow.
When we ask God to show us what we need to work on so there isn’t something keeping us from drawing closer to him; we are cultivating the soil. When we read our Bibles, study the word, and pray we are watering the seeds that will produce the fruit. When we allow God to work in our lives the fruit begins to grow.
This is part of the sanctification process. We have already been sealed and set apart as one of God’s children, but with each phase of life, there will always be something we can work on to continue growing closer to God. We will have our droughts and floods along with rainbows and sunny skies. The thing we must all remember is God wants us to be open to His will for our lives and be willing to live for Him.
We are a work of art created by a God who loves us more than we will ever comprehend on this earth. We were created in His image and He has a specific purpose for each one of us. He did not hit copy and paste when he created you or me, and for that I’m thankful. The thing is, as we experience life we may or may not choose to follow God or allow Him to have access to our lives so we can keep moving forward.
The question is: Are we willing to trust Him through the good and the bad of our lives so that we can ultimately be who He created us to be?
