Holiness and sanctification, strong and pure, enter the confines of our three pound thoughts and quickly bump into our misconceived presuppositions about God and about ourselves. At first, sanctification appears to stand out as a freak alien visitor when contrasted against our view of sin and God and life. But as we look at what has been set apart for God's purpose we, by God's grace, begin to experience an answer to a prayer that was prayed centuries ago, “. . . that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,” (Ephesians 1:18 NIV). The hope to which God has called us is a life that is not only redeemed, but a life that is cleansed and empowered to love God and others more and more. The riches of His glorious inheritance include God's sanctification of us that we may become His holy people. This new life, this holy sanctified life, as alien and unnatural as it may first appear, is not only possible, it is the life God had in mind for all of us even before the beginning.
There are, however, some significant issues related to our concept of, and participation, in the work of sanctification. One of the most problematic issues with our concept of holiness comes from our presuppositions and culturally filtered definitions of holiness terms. At times our preconceptions of these terms may even cause us to bristle at the very suggestion of applying them to ourselves. For example, on first encounter, the word perfection is draped in anything but humility. It is not a term that we find even remotely useful, for instance, on our resume. Perfection is not a term peppering the conversation of a first date, as we try to accurately describe ourselves. Yet perfection, in sanctification terms, is a useful and accurate descriptor of what God's grace is working toward in our lives.
This tension in definitions births opinions that, over time, become beloved filters that we sift our worldview through. The terms sin, perfection, love, truth, pride, humility, purity, and even holiness, among others, have all fallen into this tension of definitions and assumptions. We become quickly distracted by a cultural, man made, even doctrinal definition often causing us to miss the transformation that God longs to accomplish by His grace in our lives toward holiness. When we filter terms this way we risk diminishing the power of the cross of Christ and the power and purity of God in accomplishing a cleansing, healing work in us toward holiness.
art by Luis Toro
