And you're receiving this message because you
opted in to be encouraged. I'm thinking today
of 1 Thessalonians 5, 23. It says, Now may the
God of peace himself sanctify you entirely. That
is to say, to set you apart as holy. That's what
sanctify means. And may he sanctify you entirely.
And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved
complete without blame at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. This is Paul writing in the book
of... 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23. The truth
is that when you got saved, God made you holy.
He wants to cleanse us and restructure us by
making us born again and then progressively throughout
our life to make us more and more holy, more
and more like Jesus, more and more like God,
more and more his people. As we get closer, the
hope is that people will have their whole selves
made holy and that we'll make it in. We make
it in not by our goodness or our greatness, but
by Jesus' holiness and his righteousness and
his imputed righteousness. That means that his
righteousness put on us. When Jesus comes, it's
finished, and the process must be complete by
then. So that's day in, day out, repenting, turning
to God, loving the Lord for who he is, and being
willing to follow his ways the best we know how.
And he'll keep making us a little better, a little
more able to understand, a little more... knowing
of when we need to repent and turn to him again.
And we're so grateful that this is the God of
heaven making us over into the image of one who
will live for eternity with him. Be encouraged
today. Whatever mistakes you've made, God is
still working in you. He can use you. Repent,
turn to him, and let him take care of the next
thing that's upcoming.