“Lord Jesus Make Me, a Sinner, as Holy as You Can”
Living a Life of Sanctification
For quite some time, we have talked about the importance of the Higher Christian Life, which was a term coined by the Keswick movement of the last century. And the point of the Higher Christian Life is to experience, in real-time, sanctification. But the questions always persist: What is experiential sanctification? And how is it obtained?
Today I want to share with you the February 8th entry from My Utmost for His Highest that speaks of the cost of sanctification and how to experience it. I hope this will be a blessing to you as we strive to grow closer to Him.
And remember, it is all summed up in this simple prayer: “Lord Jesus make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy in Your sight as You can.” And Jesus will always answer that prayer.
The Cost of Sanctification
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely – 1 Thessalonians 5:23
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21–23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?
