Set Apart for God

1) And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 3) Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.  Rom. 12:1-3 (NLT)

When a person places his faith in Jesus Christ, he becomes a new believer, and he is sanctified--that is, set apart for God's purpose. Unlike salvation, which takes place in a single moment, sanctification is a lifelong process. We who are followers of the Savior should be letting the Holy Spirit control our lives. If that is the case, we are currently being sanctified, regardless of what we may feel or how our actions appear to others. In other words, we are progressively maturing in our faith.

And if we are progressing, we must be working our way toward something. The apostle Paul explained the Christian's mission: "For those whom [God] foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom. 8:29). A believer's character, conduct, and conversation should be reflections of Jesus, who lives within. On our own, we'd place too much emphasis on behavior and get caught up with following rules and rituals that look Christian without truly reflecting Christ. But God has given each believer His Spirit as a teacher and guide. The Spirit works to transform our minds and hearts so that we are markedly different from our unsaved peers. When we allow the Spirit to control us, we speak and act in accordance with our true identity: God's sons and daughters.

Our Father wants His children to be living examples of who He is. He doesn't expect perfection--He knows we can't be totally sinless in our human body. But He shows us how to think and act so we may "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which [we] have been called" (Eph. 4:1).   (Via Charles Stanley)   Be Blessed!   Dawn