‘Sanctification means more than the deliverance of sin, it means the deliberate commitment of myself whom God has saved to God, and that I do not care what it costs.’ – OC
Yesterday I left the devotional with the thought that God demands action more than prayer. OC’s discussion today of sanctification provides a further explanation of this fact. A prayer without sacrifice amounts to little more than paying lip service to God.
OC uses the example of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son, Ishmael. Ishmael was born out of wedlock, to a bondmaid. He was, in contrast to Isaac, a representation of Abraham’s failure to obey God’s law. As a result, Abraham was asked to sacrifice Ishmael before he could offer Isaac. Abraham could not enter into a spiritual relationship with God until he had sacrificed his sin to God.
The sacrifice of sin is an interesting concept. Sacrifice, of course means to give something up or to refrain from something. The sacrifice of sin is separate from being convicted in sin in the regard that to be convicted of sin is simply to accept responsibility for our failure to keep God’s law.
Sacrifice of sin is a physical act of restraint. It is a promise we make to God and live up to every day. If we fail to live up to the promise, then we have not given God our sin and it is thus not sacrificed. To sacrifice our sins is to also be absolved of them. God accepts our sacrifice and forgives us our conviction, thus making us to be pure enough to enter into a spiritual relationship with Him.
Sacrifice of sin requires discipline. We must discipline ourselves in order to avoid a backslide of our behavior into sin. Failure to maintain discipline produces a mockery of the spiritual life in the natural life. It produces hypocrisy and threatens to not only devalue our relationship with God, but also to discredit our witness of God to other’s who see how we behave.
Furthermore, in failing to keep the sacrifice of our sin, we exhibit a lack of trust, or faith, in God’s ability to provide for us and to guide us. We are honoring our own selfish desires and selfish behaviors over what God can do for us. Whatever purpose our behavior is meant to fulfill can surely be filled in a better way by what God can do for us in a faithful relationship.
Finally, just as Abraham was called to sacrifice the body of Ishmael, so too are we called to sacrifice our bodies to Christ. The concept of the body being a temple for the Holy Spirit implies that we are asking God to allow us to be a vessel for His will. When we sin, we are not practicing the will of God and are in fact perverting His relationship with us. The commitment to a relationship with God is not to be taken any more nonchalantly than a relationship with a spouse.
Yesterday I left the devotional with the thought that God demands action more than prayer. OC’s discussion today of sanctification provides a further explanation of this fact. A prayer without sacrifice amounts to little more than paying lip service to God.
OC uses the example of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son, Ishmael. Ishmael was born out of wedlock, to a bondmaid. He was, in contrast to Isaac, a representation of Abraham’s failure to obey God’s law. As a result, Abraham was asked to sacrifice Ishmael before he could offer Isaac. Abraham could not enter into a spiritual relationship with God until he had sacrificed his sin to God.
The sacrifice of sin is an interesting concept. Sacrifice, of course means to give something up or to refrain from something. The sacrifice of sin is separate from being convicted in sin in the regard that to be convicted of sin is simply to accept responsibility for our failure to keep God’s law.
Sacrifice of sin is a physical act of restraint. It is a promise we make to God and live up to every day. If we fail to live up to the promise, then we have not given God our sin and it is thus not sacrificed. To sacrifice our sins is to also be absolved of them. God accepts our sacrifice and forgives us our conviction, thus making us to be pure enough to enter into a spiritual relationship with Him.
Sacrifice of sin requires discipline. We must discipline ourselves in order to avoid a backslide of our behavior into sin. Failure to maintain discipline produces a mockery of the spiritual life in the natural life. It produces hypocrisy and threatens to not only devalue our relationship with God, but also to discredit our witness of God to other’s who see how we behave.
Furthermore, in failing to keep the sacrifice of our sin, we exhibit a lack of trust, or faith, in God’s ability to provide for us and to guide us. We are honoring our own selfish desires and selfish behaviors over what God can do for us. Whatever purpose our behavior is meant to fulfill can surely be filled in a better way by what God can do for us in a faithful relationship.
Finally, just as Abraham was called to sacrifice the body of Ishmael, so too are we called to sacrifice our bodies to Christ. The concept of the body being a temple for the Holy Spirit implies that we are asking God to allow us to be a vessel for His will. When we sin, we are not practicing the will of God and are in fact perverting His relationship with us. The commitment to a relationship with God is not to be taken any more nonchalantly than a relationship with a spouse.
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