God's Pure Love for You

During prayer, God convicted me to repent of some things in my life including:

Giving up TV shows that aren’t absolutely pure, that other people insist on watching. These shows deceive us into thinking they are mostly harmless, but they include some foul language or sexual innuendo.

There are so many other productive things I could do with my time, i.e., prayer without ceasing, studying God’s word, spouse  and family time, writing, evangelizing, and helping the needy. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he…” What I put into my mind is what I will become, or “garbage in, garbage out”. There is some “garbage-collecting” that I need to repent of. A steady taste of rotten garbage from the compost pile of this world can make me spiritually sick!

Second Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” If we obey this verse, many things in our lives as Christians would be removed or changed! My past TV viewing has brought about imaginations, speculations, proud obstacles, arguments, reasonings, and lofty things set up against the knowledge of God, reinforcing evil thoughts and words that were part of my old, sinful nature.

Everything I do/think must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. How can I say I am practicing a holy life, set apart unto God, if I don’t consciously bring into captivity every thought to Christ? Areas that fall into this category are many: how I dress or talk, entertainment I choose (television, movies, types of music), makeup, spending habits, and diet. You could probably think of others personally.

Above all, there’s only one completely pure Life, that of our triune God: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can only be more like Him as we yield to His indwelling presence. We cannot be holier by just following a bunch of rules. We must be made holy by being washed in the blood of Christ shed on the cross. This is justification, or being made right with God, and occurs when you accept Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior. He frees you from the penalty of sin and gives you His eternal life.

After justification, God begins a process of sanctification, or setting us free from the power of sin. Glorification is the last of the three; God frees us from the presence of sin. Justification has already occurred for every Christian, sanctification is both done and in process, and glorification has occurred, but will be completely fulfilled after we die.

Preparatory sanctification has already occurred in each Christian’s life when God chose and prepared us to trust in Him. Positional sanctification is what God did for us; He set us apart when we received Christ as Lord and Savior. Perfect sanctification is yet future or after the believer’s death, when “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” – 1 John 3:2.

Practical sanctification is something we are responsible for with God’s help, but preparatory, positional, and perfect sanctification are only works of God done by Christ’s shed blood. We can set ourselves unto God more fully as we turn from sin and unto obedience. This is practical sanctification. It is living out the reality of our positional sanctification! It can be joyful, as we allow His Holy Spirit to fill us, and He can do mighty things through a life that is fully surrendered to His indwelling! Are you longing for this kind of life?