And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you. | ||
| Leviticus 20:8 | ||
| Verse 7 begins with “Sanctify yourselves.” Verse 8 ends with, “I am the LORD which sanctify you.” Is sanctification something we do, or is it something God does for us? It’s both. God sanctifies us, yet He won’t do it without our participation. We see this illustrated perfectly in 2 Kings 5 . . . Plagued by leprosy, a Syrian general named Naaman heard there was a prophet in Israel doing miracles. He traveled there and was told by Elisha to dip in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman was offended. “That dirty river? We have bigger, cleaner rivers in Syria,” he protested. But when his advisors said, “What do you have to lose?” he followed Elisha’s instructions, and after his seventh dip, his leprosy was gone. If we want to be free from the leprosy eating away at our marriages, our families, and our joy, we have a part to play. Seven being the number of completion, and water being emblematic of the Word, we are to dip into the Word over and over and over again. And as we do, God meets us and we begin to see we are indeed sanctified. As we fellowship with Him, listen to Him, and obey Him, we experience the unmistakable sanctifying process. “Sanctify yourselves,” God says, “and as you do, I will sanctify you.” Without Him, we can’t. Without us, He won’t. Pastor Jon Courson | ||
