Set Apart

Outlier, photo by Robert S. Donovan from Flickr

The word sanctification means to be set apart or to be made holy. Sanctification is a process that will take our entire lifetime on this side of heaven. We are all works in progress, being conformed, or transformed, more and more into the image of Jesus.

As Jesus said to His followers, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

We are not yet as we should be. Our sinfulness and selfishness has put us in the position of needing of a savior. We need God’s Power and His Spirit to make right all that is wrong within us in our selfishness.

From Sanctification in the Everyday, by John Piper:

Diagnosing My Own Soul

Selfishness is virtually the same as pride and is the deep, broad corruption that is at the bottom of it all. I would give it six traits:

·      My selfishness is a reflex to expect to be served.

·      My selfishness is a reflex to feel that I am owed.

·      My selfishness is a reflex to want praise.

·      My selfishness is a reflex to expect that things will go my way.

·      My selfishness is a reflex to feel that I have the right to react negatively to being crossed.

When these responses happen, they are coming from nature, not reflection. They are the marks of original sin.

Scripture is clear—we are works in progress. Our sinfulness and selfishness has separated us from our God. We need a savior. We need Jesus.

The more we come to Jesus, the more we become who we are supposed to be—a Holy and set apart people.

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

Download a copy of Sanctification in the Everyday, by John Piper here:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/books/sanctification-in-the-everyday