Be sanctified

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A third clear teaching in God’s Word about His will concerns our sanctification, or in simpler and more useful terms, our purity and holiness. While writing to the Christians at Thessalonica, Paul said: 

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thess. 4:3–5).
Purity and holiness are often uncomfortable terms for Christians. They sound so self-righteous and sanctimonious. Actually, purity and holiness are two crucial parts of practical Christian living.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4, you can find several principles for purity. The first one is plain enough: “Avoid sexual immorality.” Stay away from sexual sins. Did Paul mean sex was evil? Of course not. Sex is a beautiful, glorious human relationship—within marriage. But sexual immorality (“fornication” in some versions) refers to sexual sin outside the marriage bond, everything from premarital sex to perversions like bisexuality and homosexuality.

There is a tendency, of course, on the part of older adults to relegate most sexual sins to the young. to shake their heads over the escapades of the teenagers and couples in their twenties, who are living together without benefit of marriage.

But sexual temptations and living-together arrangements are not the exclusive possession of youth. In fact, there may be more problems among those in their thirties, forties, and fifties. No matter what your age, the sex drive is a powerful force. If the Holy Spirit is not in control, it is too easy to go over the line. Where is the line? When you have to start asking that, you’ve probably gone over it already.

Another principle for purity in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 simply adds that “each of you” should control his (or her) own body. There are no exceptions, no special privileges. There are people who don’t engage directly in immorality, but they entertain themselves by watching others who do.

Today, evil, lust, and immorality come in all kinds of wrappings. God’s will, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4 is that no Christian should be entertained, interested, or enticed by it. Christian purity and holiness is not sanctimonious, self-righteous drivel. It concerns how we live our daily lives. It is a crucial part of doing God’s will. If we are running around trying to find God’s specific answers for certain questions but are living impure lives, why should God give us those answers when we still haven’t obeyed His will that He has already revealed?

God’s will is that we be saved, Spirit-filled, and sanctified—set apart as pure and holy people fit for His use.


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