Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Jesus is rich in all ways and blesses us with “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). Yesterday, we considered His gift of future or ultimate sanctification. Today, we will briefly study experiential or progressive sanctification. Yes, like a mule, I am moving backwards! This type of sanctification is what most of us think about when we talk about being set apart; it means becoming more like our Savior. I John 1:7 makes it clear that the holiness of God is our standard and goal: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another [that is, with God], and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” We are thus not just sitting around waiting for our final and future sanctification; we are living for Jesus, living to become more like Him. Lord, keep leading us into Your light. Helps us, like Isaiah (6:5), to be aware of our sin, and empower us through the indwelling Spirit to “walk in the light.”