Feb 2, 2009
Holiness for the Sake of Others
When thinking about sanctification and the call of God for us to be holy, there is more going on than simply setting ourselves right with God. While God certainly wants to know us and to have fellowship with us, God also wants us to be useful as his people on earth.
We will never represent God unless God is able shape us into his kind of people.
So in our daily work to live holy lives, to discipline ourselves, to hear God, and to let God work in us, we are no longer acting as individuals just trying to better themselves. We are drawing near to God in order to be more effective as God’s people, as his ministers, as his body.
When it comes to spirituality and holiness, we have a lot more at stake than our own salvation. The world is depending on it.
Appreciated the (short) post on sanctification and holiness. I’m sure it took some effort and restraint to not write more.
Fav. line – We will never represent God unless God is able shape us into his kind of people.
Later Ed.
I agree. Great post. The perfect length while nailing me with a profound insight. Wow!
Thanks, Jason
Thanks guys! I’m working on a 200 word limit for almost every post. Glad it worked for ya. I’m hoping that less is more… at least with blogs. It also means I’m more inclined to write since I just need to develop the core thought and not lay it out like an essay. I hope I end up blogging more as a result.
Ed,
I think a lot of this idea of “holiness” is lost to many of us because we feel this is a conflict with “grace.” For instance, if one were to talk about being holy, suddenly, he or she is proposing that works-based salvation, which is ridiculous. We need to reevaluate holiness, not as “perfection,” but as something else. Sounds like you’re going in the direction that’s necessary.
Thanks Evan. Even Wesley, who was Mr. Sanctification, essentially advocated a form of Calvinism (as Roger Olson asserts). So everything falls back on the work of God in our lives. We work because God has worked in us. It’s funny how sides emerge in these debates and we lose the wonderful places in the middle. I agree the perfection idea is too tough a pill to swallow, but making sanctification the fashioning of God’s people into holy and useful people really inspires me.