I started reading 1 Corinthians but didn’t get any further than this description of who Paul was writing to ‘to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…’
‘Sanctified’.
‘Called to be saints!!’
So I dug a bit deeper, what exactly does it mean to be sanctified and a saint?
Sanctified – ‘to separate from profane things and dedicate to God’.
‘To purify internally by renewing of the soul’.
Saint – I’ve heard it described as a sinner sinner saved by grace but the meaning that stood out to me the most was the word consecrated!
Are we consecrated to God? Set apart from the world, exclusively His?
And how does this play out in our lives?
Is it looking set apart, dressing differently and avoiding the world?
No! It’s living through Christ for the glory of God!
If we truly love God this will affect the way we live, if we’re walking close to Him we’ll have no desire to dress or act in a way that grieves Him but that won’t be our focus!
We won’t want to be one with the World instead we’ll be reaching out to it with the love of Jesus as Jesus did with His love.
Loving the despised and rejected in our society just as Jesus did in His life.
Consecration is not set apart looking, it’s set apart doing!
It’s following in the footsteps of Jesus as he leads us!
It’s easy to put Jesus in the place of a servant, asking Him to do things for us and asking for His help when things get hard or we need direction.
And yes He’s both able and willing to help us but there should be so much more to our relationship with God than just getting the answers and help we want.
Relationships need love and love that is poured out in practical ways and that love going both ways.
The Christian life is a beautiful life of surrender and sacrifice of self for Christ and the glory of God.
It’s living for God and His glory through Christ and the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit who is in us as believers.
Growing in Grace = Growing in dependence on God
It’s walking in complete dependence upon God but not for our own will and way but for help to walk in His will and way.
That hole we’re so often try to fill with shopping, social media etc can only be filled with Jesus and by living for God, nothing else will satisfy for long!
It’s ‘no more Me just all Christ in me’!
It’s sacrifice and surrender which = joy and peace.
Friend, are you willingly, cheerfully living the surrendered, set apart life? Because it’s the only life where true happiness is found, the way where that peace that passes all understanding and that joy that transcends circumstances lights the darkest path!
Keep leaning in Friend and live by God’s enabling grace with open hands and heart, eyes fixed on Jesus!
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1 Cor 1:2
Encouraging Women to Seek and Abide... 