1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 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. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

This chapter is loaded with short, pithy statements and admonitions that are often quoted but seldom fulfilled. That pattern comes to a climax in verses 16-22, and then we have verse 23, which essentially speaks of sinless perfection. It’s enough to make a thoughtful person throw up their hands in despair and just give up. But then we come to verse 24, and the focus is firmly placed on Christ, and everything is resolved. One of the great truths of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is that we are unable to fulfill God’s righteous laws in our own strength and wisdom, but He is more than able to do it, even in and through us. These verses have been set to music verbatim in Japanese, very enjoyably, but in translating the song into English I had to expand the lyrics to fit the music, so it isn’t immediately obvious that it is this passage. However, it’s a song I want to use in the first service of the new year, because we need to remember this principle all the time, asking, desiring, and expecting Jesus to work in us by His Spirit to perfect us and make us holy. We throw “sanctification” around as an item of “churchese,” but I don’t think many people really have much of a grasp of it. Literally, it means “being made holy,” but we don’t even have much of a handle on that. To me, the most helpful definition is, “being made like Jesus.” That both fleshes it out and shows us we can’t do it on our own! However, everyone from Jesus on tells us that is God’s goal for us, so we are to trust Him with it, and as He told me personally, rest, relax, and rejoice in the process.

I am certainly preaching to myself here, because the more I progress in this, the further I realize I need to go. In my youth I operated in a remarkable level of pride, thinking I was the finest of Christians, all the while totally ignoring God most of the time. In contrast, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19) In a sense, becoming like Jesus means learning that I can’t do squat on my own; He’s got to do it in and through me. However, the joyous truth is that the better I learn that, the more He actually does in and through me! I am not to trust myself, much less depend on myself, but Jesus is totally trustworthy and dependable.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for how You have been arranging the schedule the past few days. Thank You for the things You have planned for today. Help us flow with Your Spirit, today and every day, being transformed and used according to Your plans, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!