Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
23 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. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
Devotion
These verses present us with a challenge to rest in a deep place of who God truly is: a faithful sanctifier who can be our strength.
As I read them I am aware of feeling myself caught in a middle place. I know that God is bigger than my problems and smarter than my solutions, but I want an immediate answer… a fix to the problems ahead of me. And I reflect on how I have been handling them thus far. I find myself struggling on my own strength with the things in front of me and yet know where my mind should be in order to not struggle so hard.
Starting with the word sanctify I am transported into the spiritual world where this life’s immediate difficulties are lessened. It represents being cleansed and set apart. When I remember that the power of God has already given my soul refreshing new life, I realize I am holding too tight to my solutions for my struggles. And I am reminded that God has done the work and will continue to do more. In this sanctifying we are then able to do the next part of the verse and be kept blameless… keeping ourselves in check against all this world offers as solutions to whatever is happening in our lives. This sanctification is a position of balance for each of us in a world where chaos is often at work.
And most importantly I focus on the word faithfulness. God is forever faithful to be on our side and with us. In these verses we are reminded that He is bigger and stronger than our humanness. And He is faithful in seeing us through what lies ahead. And the best part is the promise that He is already at work and doing what needs to be done to give us our best lives. In the end, us being sanctified is the hope that God truly is working all things together for our good.
Prayer
Lord, hear our meager human hearts and our deep need for you to work through each part of our lives. Remind us that we are sanctified through you and you hold us in your steady hands. Help us to rest in your faithfulness and rely on you, not ourselves. Remind us of the hope we have in your promises and how to rest there with you. Amen
Author: Mindy Kempista
Recent Comments