May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Thessalonians 5:23           

When my husband was a little kid, a stray scotty dog came to his house. The little pup was hungry, dirty, and had a limp. My in-laws graciously allowed the dog in, cleaned him up, fed him, and after looking for his owners with no success, let him join the family. While the dog’s limp never fully healed (hence the name Hop-Scotch), he had a much happier life with his new family than he would have if he’d been left to wander the streets.

I love this story. It reminds me of what the Lord graciously does for us when we come to him in faith. When we bring our real selves - dirty, in pain, and hungry for true love – and humbly admit we just need Jesus to save us, he lets us in and accepts us just as we are. With all our proverbial knots, fleas, ticks, bad habits, bad breath, and bad obedience skills, He snuggles us close and says, “I’m so glad you’re here. Now you are a part of this family.”

But that’s not how he lets us continue to live after we’ve been saved by his grace and welcomed into his family. Thankfully, he doesn’t allow the fleas to keep biting. He doesn’t let us poop wherever we want. He doesn’t let our hair stay a big knotted mess. Through a process called sanctification, he grows our character and our behavior in holiness. While it can be a painful and scary process at times, especially if we’ve actually started to like our knotted hair or befriended the ticks, it’s a necessary and loving one if we’re truly going to thrive and experience all the good things God has for us in this life.

I think this idea of completely and abundantly experiencing all God has for us is what Paul had in mind when he wrote his first letter to the Thessalonian church. In his closing remarks, he reminded them of God’s sanctifying work in their lives. While they were fully saved by grace (also called “Positionally Holy”), they were being gradually conformed into the image of Jesus, or growing in holiness.

 Let’s unpack it a bit:

Paul tells them sanctification is work that God himself is doing in their lives. God is directly involved in this process, not sitting at a distance and spouting off lists of ways we can improve ourselves. Sanctification is a relational quality, based on God’s presence in our lives, not a checklist of moral behaviors. It’s not something we can get anywhere else. And because God is faithful, we can trust him to do his work faithfully and completely.

Also notice Paul wants them to be sanctified “through and through”, not just part way. Sanctification is centered on a deepening relationship between God and us. The more we grow in relationship with him, the more we grow like him in character and become more and more complete through him. 

We can limit God’s work in us, however, by limiting access and refusing to obey. We can limit our growth through our lack of submission to his will and his ways. While we cannot sanctify ourselves, we can allow God access to every part of us so he can do the good work in us.

I like the way one commentator put it. He said, “God’s purpose for our lives is that we be increasingly conformed to the image of his son in every dimension of our personhood.” Why? So we can have more joy and peace in our lives, experience more of him, and demonstrate the beauty of Jesus to others. So we can be more complete. 

Questions for reflection:

How might you be neglecting to trust God to do his sanctifying work in your life?

What areas in your life are you withholding from God to work in and why?