Being Made Holy

The new relationship between God and his people is that faith in Jesus bringing us into eternal life (John 14). Faith in Jesus perfects love, taking away all fear. God’s revelation is that faith in Jesus brings the free gift of his perfect life. Faith in Jesus means we get his perfect life, as on the cross he takes our sinful lives. We are reborn, recreated in the image of the Son, reformed, justified by the life Christ lived, and sanctified, made holy, by the work of the cross.

One of the key ideas in this new relationship is that we all start dead to God and our every motive is utterly evil. Every work is expressed out of rebellion to God. We do good things but because of our sinful hearts, our every action is evil. We choose to separate ourselves from God, condemning ourselves to eternal separation.

The way back to the Father is the work of the Holy Spirit who brings conviction of this sin and our response is to believe in the good news of salvation in Jesus. This is the only work we need do; believe in the Father who sent the Son that we may have eternal life in Christ. We have to have this faith in God, that the mercy of the cross is able to save us. It is God who chooses us and restores us to freedom. The Holy Spirit awakens us to Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Our lives are bought back from futility and we who deserve eternal death gain eternal life. We are renewed in our minds and are freed by God’s grace to live our lives safe in the knowledge of God’s purpose. We are made holy in Christ and are perfected through Christ. We are no longer living in the inheritance of Adam but have the inheritance of Christ. We are adopted into God’s family by faith, through grace.

This present reality is worked out through our lives. We are no longer part of the system and have a direction at odds to it. Our purpose is to glorify God by pouring our lives out for him, magnifying his name and making known Christ and the Spirit so that others might be blessed.

We are a blessing to the world, witnesses for the work of the Spirit, proclaiming salvation. Christ goes before us and we are refined and purified by the sufferings of the world, not burned up.

We suffer with the world; we are found with the poor and the needy, we weep with the rejected and touch death, learning a freedom in God we will realise in death. We are not immune from suffering but pour ourselves out in it for others. This love will be consummated in creation on the last day when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead and finally God dwells eternally with his people.