Deeper Life #20

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

—Romans 6:11

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON my willing, conscious, definite break with sin at the cross, and by an act of faith, appropriating Christ on the throne. The world, the flesh, and the Devil are conquered.

The term sanctification is used by many religions. But any sanctification other than Christian sanctification leads to self-righteousness under the misleading guise of self-denial, self-sacrifice, self-inflicted seasons of prayer, self-appointed fasts, and self-torment.

Christian sanctification is the indwelling holiness that guides our lives as spontaneously as its breathing. It depends not on my longings, yearning, praying, fasting, weeping, or howling, but entirely on my will.

A word of caution is perhaps needed: It is dangerous to draw peace from the realization that we have turned from a wrong way of living to a right way. This is the very essence of pharisaic fanaticism. Holiness is the remaking of our inward and hidden desires and affections, when the Holy Spirit of God dwells in our mortal bodies.

Prayer Thought: Through Your mercy and grace, Lord, I truly and completely yield myself to You.

SUGGESTED READING: John 6:50–56