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August 2009, Page 6.
Index of articles:
by subject,
by date.
In this issue:
(August 2009)
Swine Flu,
Song,
God's name?
Sanctification?
More bishops?
In our "Questions to the clergy" slot, John will try to answer any query you throw at him, without hesitation, deviation or repetition...
Sanctification?
Q. Please could you explain ‘sanctification’ to me?
A. The word ‘sanctification’ means the process of becoming ‘holy’, and the word ‘holy’ means special, set apart, and morally good.
It all starts with human nature. Each of us is a mixture. We have inside us the capacity for great goodness, for unselfish acts of heroism, for amazing endurance under pressure, for forgiveness despite deep hurts, and so on. And yet, we are also capable of great evil: warfare, intolerance, turning a blind eye to others, amazing cruelty and selfishness and bigotry. Each of us has this mixture inside ourselves: we are both adorable and disgusting at the same time.
If it were up to us to earn a place in the favour of a God who is perfection, we’d all be sunk. And yet, he longs to welcome us into his presence, for he sees the good as well as the evil inside us.
So he rescues us by taking on himself the punishment which should have been ours, in the person of Jesus. The cross is a big swap: we exchange our sinfulness for Christ’s righteousness. And so we become “holy” in one way - as the old song says “Oh, the blood of Jesus, it washes white as snow.” ‘Sanctification’ starts with us turning to Jesus and accepting God’s forgiveness. That’s 1/3 of its meaning.
The second third of its meaning is this: when we turn to Jesus, God puts his Holy Spirit into our hearts, and the Holy Spirit starts changing us to being more like God. So, for instance, we become more forgiving people. We grow a new desire to make the world a better place - many of us get involved in charitable activities. We find a new desire to worship God. We become more peaceful and more saintly. It doesn’t all happen at once, but I’ve seen it happen in so many people that I know it’s not just a coincidence. Our ‘sanctification’ proceeds by us being changed inside.
However, we don’t reach perfection on this earth: in fact, a lot of us, as we get older in following Jesus, become more and more conscious of the fact that we are still not perfect, not by a long way. The last part of our sanctification is what will happen beyond the grave, when the lower nature finally loses its grip on us. Then we’ll truly be holy, as we see him as he is.
God made me holy when he saved me. He continues to make me more holy, but please be patient as he hasn’t finished yet. One day he will have finished, and I’ll stand holy before him.
John Hartley