What did you think of the Happy Hypocrite?

Did you like the story of the Happy Hypocrite (a couple of posts below this one)? I love that story, and I think there are lots of ways to think about it. I think it does a fairly good job of illustrating a fancy word called sanctification. Yes, that's a church word, but it's a good one to know.

It seems to me that the Bible uses the word in 2 ways. Oh, first, what does it mean? It is basically the idea of made being holy, pure, blameless, and perfect in the eyes of God. Is that possible? Yes it is! That's what Jesus does for us when we embrace him and his story.

We embody our trust/faith in God's saving work by re-enacting the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. How? In baptism -- check out Romans 6. When we are baptized, we "put on" or are "clothed" with Christ (Galatians 3:26,27). So when God looks at us, he sees his Son who is perfect, blameless and holy. We are sanctified at this point. It happens when we become a Christian.

We know that we are not living perfect, blameless, and holy lives. We still struggle with sin, but God still sees us as his holy beloved children, allowing us to be in relationship with him. He gives us his Holy Spirit to help us become what we are in his sight. He wants us to live up to what he has given us. He wants our face to take on the shape of the mask. He wants us to look like and live like Jesus.

This process of growing and developing to be like Jesus is also called sanctification. So there are two ideas are work here. First, we are sanctified--made holy--when we embrace Jesus as Savior and Lord. Second, the Spirit of God continues to work in our lives to make us holy, helping us to become what we are in the eyes of God, helping us to live up to who we are.

Pretty cool stuff. In order to grow--to take on the shape of the mask--we must cooperate with the Spirit, giving him time to work. That includes being still, worship, contemplation of Scripture, prayer, serving others, etc.