“He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. “
1 Corinthians 1:8-9 (NIV)
God is faithful to us! Of course, that does not preclude our living sanctified, holy lives. We are sanctified in Christ Jesus. God has called us to be holy. So, we should practice sanctification and holiness. Yet, many people make excuses: “Nobody can live that way! Everybody sins a little bit everyday. You can’t help it.”
Now, I ask you: Where is the power of the Holy Spirit in such thinking? Is the blood of Christ not stronger than that? Doesn’t the shed blood of Christ cleanse and deliver us? Aren’t we dead to sin through the death of Christ? So then, if we are dead to sin, how can we continue to live in sin?
The issue is simply living by faith in Christ’s finished work everyday . . . day by day. Yes, we are to do all we know to do in keeping ourselves “from being polluted by the world” (James 1;27 NIV), BUT we do not trust in ourselves for purity and holiness. Rather, we trust in God who is faithful to us. Paul the Apostle wrote: “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose . . . so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation” (Philippians 2: 13 & 15 NIV). And again to another church he wrote: “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” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV).
We are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, and furthermore called into the fellowship with God’s Son Jesus Christ. The key to success in our callings is this: God is the one who has called us and He is faithful “to keep you strong to the end” (1 Cor. 5:8).
Dear Father, thank you for keeping us strong to the end. Empower us with Godly strength to live sanctified, holy lives every day. This I pray in the name of Jesus. AMEN
Be encouraged today in the strength of God,