Episode 315: I’m Talkin. . .Sanctification

I’m talking episode 315 for April 28th 2024 This is Joel from the I’m talking microcast where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week This week we’re talking sanctification Sanctification is a word that fits squarely in the church realm I don’t believe I Have ever used that word outside of a church context and no one in my world circle outside of church Uses that word either and therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians How do we take a word as Christians that is clearly?

Met for Christians, I guess but I mean it is an English word.

It’s not something that necessarily The Christian community came up with although maybe that’s not true.

I didn’t look at the history but the the challenge is as a Christian is to make sure we understand the meaning and how we use the word and what it Really means in relationship to our walk with Jesus Christ so to be Well, I’m not real general but you’re looking at the meaning of the word sanctification so really it means to be set apart and Oftentimes we say that’s the same definition as holy and I think that’s part of sanctification.

In fact Sanctification means to be set apart for holiness.

I think and really to set apart for Perfection and and so in the end you think Holy and perfection is sanctification meetings even something that can be grasped Well, here’s the deal with that Unlike justification, which is an instantaneous thing that happens because of the work Christ did on the cross Sanctification is a lifelong pursuit of the Christian it still is done Because of what Christ did on the cross, but it takes on a different Look, it is something as Christians that we are striving for.

What does it look like in our everyday life?

Well, it means sometimes we have or often maybe we have to say I’m sorry because we did not do or act as Christ would have wanted us to and and we need to Admit to the sin that we commit Not brush it under the rug not say well that’s just who I am not say because we are different we are set apart we have the Opportunity and the responsibility To live a lifelong pursuit of sanctification to be perfect You know in the Bible Christ says be holy as I am holy He also says be perfect because your Father in heaven is perfect and So is it something we can attain in our lifetime?

Well, I Don’t think so But I think it is something we should strive to pertain To obtain I may have used the wrong word there just a minute ago But but we need to be making regular progress Toward perfection we need to be making Regular progress in our walk with God that allows us to be More like Jesus Christ.

We need to be making progress So when people see us next year next month They know that something’s different the things that we struggled with a year ago are Less of a struggle today that the things that we run into and used to make bad decisions with Become less of a stumbling block and how is that even possible?

well as Jesus said when he left the earth He said I must go so that a helper may come and who is that helper?

well, that helper is the Holy Spirit not a subset not a less than but the actual part of the Trinity that lives within us the all of God the all power of God and Jesus Christ Living inside of us.

That’s the helper that Jesus gave us knowing the Christian life was not going to be easy Knowing the problems we would face knowing decisions We would have to make he did not leave us on our own and so our path to sanctification Goes squarely through the help of the Holy Spirit that Christ gave us once he ascended into heaven Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m talking microcast