(Connecting Advent and Holiness)
It is interesting to see all the calls to “sanctify yourself” and the others which say the Lord is our sanctifier (Leviticus 11:44 & 20:7-8, Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; Hebrews 10:10; 1 Peter 1:1-2 & 3:15). It is obvious the first call is to consecrate ourselves as a gift to Him and the second is the Lord making holy the gift. But taken together, they say that we are to participate in our own sanctification; we are to be proactive in regard to it. This means that this “personal relationship” we say we have with Jesus will always require some intense and challenging conversations with His Spirit about how we are doing in our pursuit of the divine likeness, i.e. being like Jesus. The Spirit is exposing our self-centeredness and our drift toward idolatry to those who will hear His voice; listen, the Spirit will convict us of our un-Christlike actions and reactions. “He who has ears to hear, let Him hear what the Spirit is saying” in His own heart.
