sanctification

It is with pure joy that women who are a part of the Digging Deep study, during this month of May, study the only sinless life ever lived. Matthew chapters one and two are very important to those of us who are followers of the Messiah. They are truly amazing in that our all-powerful God had completed the orchestration of events to fulfill scores of specific Old Testament prophecies to bring world events and kingdoms to the very moment of perfection for the placement of His Son in the womb of a woman by a miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit.

Mary was just a common girl, in the eyes of the society about her. She was part of the proud, but oppressed Jewish nation. Her people, though allowed to go about their business in peace, were taxed and ultimately ruled by the great Roman Empire. Her hometown of Nazareth was considered little more than a ghetto in Galilee and her family was neither wealthy nor notable. (According to Leviticus 12, a Jewish mother, after her baby’s delivery and her purification, was to go and make a burnt offering of a lamb and a sin offering of a dove or pigeon. If she could not afford to offer a lamb, she could substitute a bird for the burnt offering, as well. Mary, in her poverty, made this substitute offering.)

I was recently a visitor in a home where the arrival of the firstborn son was eminent. A new crib had been ordered, along with a changing table and a dresser. The nursery was the focus of attention. It had a new and pristine coat of paint, with brightly colored borders and trims. Framed poetry written by a family member, dressings for the crib, and a matching diaper stacker were stacked around the perimeter of the room and the closet was already filled with tiny little outfits.

But Jesus the Christ was placed in a borrowed feeding trough. The scents were not those of diaper Genies and baby lotion. The sounds were not quiet hums of medical equipment and gentle lullaby music. Farm animals are neither sterile nor quiet. There were no cute birth announcements, but shepherds did receive the birth announcement from a multitude of the heavenly host.

And, through all of this, what was Mary thinking? You can be sure that, following the angel’s announcement, she went back through the Holy Scriptures and treasured the reading of each specific prophecy about the child she carried. When the baby moved and she wondered if that was a shoulder or an elbow that poked her, surely she remembered the promise that the government would be upon that shoulder. When she worried about that trip to pay taxes, she surely remembered even in the chaos of nine- month travel, that she bore the Prince of Peace. Surely as she made the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, she knew that, whenever she returned, she would be nursing, diapering, and mothering the Son of God. Mary was truly sanctified, set apart, chosen for this, the most natural, yet most amazing job ever given a woman.

As we read through the lineage of Jesus in Matthew one, we find three more ordinary women…the most unlikely of Old Testament women, in fact, who were sanctified to be ancestresses of the Christ child–a prostitute, a Moabitess, and an adulteress. Can you find them in the lineage? Find and read their stories in the Old Testament.

May we remember that God can transform the unlikeliest among us into women for His purposes. Does He want you to be a mother of a great evangelist? Is He giving you a chance, even now, to lead a future leader to Him? Has he put you in a classroom that may yield a future elder or the great Bible class teacher for the next generation? Has he placed you in the life of a diseased woman who may desperately need your assistance and prayers? Has He given you talents to write, speak, sew, clean, entertain, cook, craft, visit, create, paint, evangelize, invite, befriend, nurse, or comfort for the Cause? If so are you sanctifying those gifts for Him? Are you sanctified?

7. Sanctified people refuse to worship idols (Dan. 3:12) Remember an idol is anything that takes the allegiance that belongs to God. Holy people refuse to surrender that allegiance to sports, entertainment, career, or community. Sanctified people will be in worship when the Super Bowl is on TV if the two activities coincide. Sanctified people have time for Bible study. Sanctified people make an effort to evangelize their neighbors. All of these things and more are wrapped up in allegiance to the Holy God.

8. Sanctified people do not need to re-think a decision when persecution begins (3:16). I noticed last week that one of the more well-known leaders in the movement to “denominationalize” the body has stated that it’s time for us to stop talking about homosexuality as a sin. He states that the day is past when our society will accept our teachings of marriage consisting of a man and a woman. The day was over when the society around Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would accept their narrow interpretation of the identity of God. But that did not stop their boldness in declaring it. Do you know someone who just keeps on saying the unpopular truths? You may know a sanctified person!

9. Sanctified people have a strong faith (3:17). Have you watched someone face death without wavering? My friend, Arnold Wright said it over and over again: “I’m just not afraid to die.” My friend Jane McWhorter said “I am ready to go be with Don. Please do not be sad for me.” My friend Hope Shull perhaps said it best when she simply said, “Either way, it will be okay.” I think I have known some sanctified people.

10. Sanctified people have a plan B. It’s sort of an exit strategy. It’s a “but-if-not” clause. Sanctified people trust God to provide for them, but they know that one day that provision will be the eternal provision of heaven. All of us should have that “but-if-not” clause. It should drive us to a faith that makes us stand up even if the whole world is bowing to the gods of the culture. I imagine you know some people who are “but-if-not” (KJV) Christians.

11. Sanctified people yield their bodies (3:28). Are you someone who has made her body a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1,2)? Sanctified people are very protective of the temple of the Holy Spirit. They protect its health, but, more importantly they protect its purity (I Corinthians 6: 18-20). In life’s final analysis, though, when it comes to deciding which is more precious–body or soul–sanctified people surrender body and give the soul to the angels who will bear it to glory (Matthew 24:31).

12. Sanctified people say the tough things (4:19). I know some people who will say the truth when it needs to be said, even if the whole room full of people who are hearing it are going to come unglued. I have heard my husband, for one, say things from the scriptures in his gospel meetings, knowing full well that he was eliciting some very uncomfortable conversations as he did so and that he would likely never be invited back. Sanctified people do not “water down” truth to adapt it to their friends or audiences.

13. Sanctified people don’t do the right thing merely for material gain (5:17). Do you know someone who’s been willing to take a demotion at work because he refuses to take the job that requires Sunday work? Do you know someone who has decided not to take a lucrative position in another city because it would put his family at spiritual risk? You might know a sanctified man!

14. Sanctified people do not mince words even when it comes to “family sin” (5:21).Sometimes blood becomes thicker than truth when we take God’s message to families that are hurting because of sin. God’s holiness requires us to speak the truth to the lost even if it means implicating family members.

15. Sanctified people do not pull punches with truth, even when speaking to very important people (5:22). It’s very hard to be plain-spoken about sin when sin is at the door-step of the wealthy, the powerful, or the popular. Sanctified people speak out with humility, but clarity, even when the tough teachings fall on the ears of the influential.

by Cindy Colley

1. Sanctified people make early decisions not to defile themselves (Daniel 1:8). Do you know teenagers who confidently walk away from situations in which many of their peers are making ruinous decisions? It may be because they decided something a long time ago. It could be that on some warm cocoa nights on the sofa with Mom and Dad, long before the teen years they decided some places they would never go, some activities in which they would never engage. It may be that they just purposed a long time before the temptation reared its ugly head that they would not defile themselves. It may be that they are sanctified.
2. Sanctified people make appeals to those in authority to allow righteous actions to continue (Daniel 1:12,13). Have you ever known someone in the work place who asked the boss to allow her to place a flyer about a religious activity on the bulletin board in the break room? Have you ever known a teenager in middle school who asked her gym teacher if she could wear a more modest “gym-suit” for that mixed PE class? Have you ever known a biology teacher to appeal to her administration for permission to teach the “theory” of creation in her public school classroom? This could be a sanctified person.
3. Sanctified people are willing to ask even their superiors for time and a chance (Daniel 2:16) Have you known someone who was brave in evangelism; someone who didn’t flinch when asking a co-worker–even a superior– to study the Bible? Have you ever known someone who was bold enough to say, “I sure wish you’d take a look at Christianity. I’d like to help you find a better life in Christ?” That may be a sanctified person.
4. Sanctified people ask their friends in the Lord to pray for them (Daniel 2:18). Do you have a friend who regularly asks you to remember her in prayer/ Do you know someone who relies on her sisters to beseech the Lord for her when she is tempted, when she is in hot water with a non-believer or when she is facing illness or stressful times? Do you know some sisters who really gain strength from the Digging Deep for Encouragement  women of prayer? You may know some sanctified women!
5. Sanctified people are praising God (Daniel 2:19-23). Do you know someone who is quick to talk of her wonderful God when she sees a beautiful or powerful work of nature (vs. 21)? Does she talk about how her God is in control even when it looks like the government is falling to corruption and debt (vs. 21)? Does she praise God for His revelation, the Bible, when she prays? Does she excitedly talk to him in times of victory and success? She may be a friend who is sanctified.
6. Sanctified people are good to their enemies (Daniel 2: 24). In fact that’s a good way to pick out those who are truly set apart from the world. Do you have a friend who goes out of her way to be nice to those who may be aloof or even ugly toward her? If so, you are a rich girl! You likely have a sanctified friend who will go to any lengths to help you go to heaven.
7. Sanctified people give God the credit for their successes (Daniel 2:28). Do you have one humble friend who refuses to boast save in the cross? Does she often say, “It’s not anything for which I can take credit. This is a blessing from God”? You may have a sanctified friend. Be happy and take lessons from her!
8. Sanctified people are loyal friends (Daniel 2:49). I know you know those people you can call at a moment’s notice and you know they’ll be right there if you really need them. The one you would be most likely to call in an emergency may be a sanctified friend–one who is not so wrapped up in the cares of daily life that she can’t just drop whatever is the task of the moment to come to your aid.

The book of Daniel gives us some great word snapshots of sanctified people. I hope you will join us Tuesday night at 7 CST for a great discussion of this rich book and its life lessons for women in 2013. The list continues Thursday here at Bless Your Heart!