The LORD’s blood erased our slate from God’s judgment, “cleaning” our account from the debt of sin. God went even one step further. He provided the Holy Spirit as a permanent way to fill us and cleanse us so we could walk clean and flow in the new life in Christ. “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). This certainly sounds good, but how can you apply it?
The concept of sanctification is often misunderstood. It’s the process whereby we are continuously cleansed and strengthened for God’s purposes. It’s how God progressively nurtures and matures us, enabling us to walk in the new life in Christ.
RELEVANCE
We live in a state of inner tension. A battle is continuously being waged within us; one between our old carnal nature and the new nature of the Holy Spirit residing within us. Paul spoke about this. “For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions” (Galatians 5:17 JNT).
Beyond the external things that can destroy our physical bodies, we can allow our spiritual condition to deteriorate from the inside by harboring destructive attitudes– like bitterness, judgment and unforgiveness– and also maintaining selfish motivations and pursuing self-centered interests and agendas. That’s why the LORD declared, “There is nothing outside a person which, by going into him, can make him unclean. Rather, it is the things that come out of a person which make a person unclean” (Mark 7:15 JNT).
Paul taught how our body is the temple of God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). It, therefore, behooves us to keep ourselves clean on the inside by reading, meditating, and digesting God’s Word, communing with Him by the Holy Spirit, and confessing and turning from sins.
We show appreciation of His cleaning of our “spiritual house” by keeping our hearts and minds clean, meditating on His words and righteous thoughts, and resisting the temptations of the world—vain desires, pride and pulls of the world.
REFLECT AND RELATE
In what ways might you hurt yourself by harboring wrong attitudes? Are there any things you do on a regular basis that may cause harmful attitudes to persist? What falsehoods might you be holding onto or trusting in?
REFERENCES
Psalm 19:7-14; 24:3-6; 51:1-19; 119: 1-40; Matthew 5:8; 21-29; 12:33-37; 13:18-23; Mark 7:17-23; Ephesians 4:17-32