Wholly His?

So many Christians feel distant from God, like a vague awareness that He exists, that He has saved them through Jesus blood, but not a vibrant trusting relationship. Last post, I shared about Murray Heron, a pastor called to Northern Quebec who won people over with his dynamic loving faith. This week, our example goes to Fanny Crosby. she was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer who lived in the late 18 and early 1900’s. She was one of the most prolific hymnists in history, writing over 8,000 hymns and gospel songs, with over 100 million copies printed. This is despite her being blind from shortly after birth. Her father died when she was very young, so Fanny was raised by her mother and grandmother. She attended a state school for the blind and didn’t start writing hymns until her mid-forties! Her lyrics came from her devotional life. Since Fanny was unable to read, her mother encouraged her to memorize extensive sections of scripture. From these words “written on her heart” came the Christ honouring words.

At a time when she was discouraged at being blind and needing help with so many things, God gave her a realization. She could not see now, but the first face she would see was that of Jesus. She hadn’t experienced the beauty and grandeur of the world, but Heaven would be her first glimpse. God had preserved her blameless in so many ways to give her a pure heart in songwriting. In this Fanny rejoiced!

How we can learn from Fanny today? This is what Paul spoke about to the Thessalonians in 1 Thess. 5:23, 24. How to be set apart and blameless for God. We see that:

God’s Whole Will Is To Make You Wholly His

How does God do this? Look at Chapter 5:23, 24 piece by piece. I Wholly Set Apart 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through (wholly). To God, being sanctified and set apart is like an engagement. In fact, it is an engagement. We have been set apart to be the bride of Christ. In our world, we see the most tangible sign of engagement in the world as a ring. A big whopping shiny 3 carrot solitaire that can seen across the room. But isn’t the real sign, a life reserved only and completely for the other? No more dating, no more hanging out with others, no more playing the field! Yet many Christians play the field with their thoughts, actions, finances and devotion. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified (1 Thess. 4:3), set apart for only Him spiritually.

II Wholly Blameless 23b May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. A way of thinking about being blameless is: walking before God in His presence with nothing to hide. Do you think it’s possible for Christians to try to hide from God? What do we mean by “blameless”?

James captured the meaning of this in James 1:4: “to be perfect and complete.” The call is for whole-heartedness. With the singlemindedness of a heat seeking missile, we make it our aim to please God. We do this by “walking before Him” with nothing to hide.

Blameless, or above reproach, however, does not mean without sin. No Christian lives an entirely sinless life, nor will we until we reach the glorified state in heaven. Blameless, or above reproach means that our life is dedicated to God, and free from sinful habits or behaviors that would impede our relationship with Him.

III Wholly His 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Jesus invites and calls us His bride to “come to me”, yet we feel so inept and unable to follow Him. We think we have to do it all on our own. Like an newly engaged woman who is overwhelmed with the preparations for a big wedding. All the invites, cake, photographer, pastor, church, hall, dress, bridesmaids, their dresses etc. Must be taken care of. Yet God doesn’t leave us alone. He gives us the ultimate wedding planner. One who knows the groom well. Who has done this kind of thing thousands of times before. Yes, this great and powerful ally is Holy Spirit. Please forgive me referring to Holy Spirit as a wedding planner. It is just an example to help us understand. Jesus promised that He would “not leave us alone”. That He would send “another counselor”. He also promised that we “would receive power when the Holy Spirit came on us” (Acts 1:8). That the Holy Spirit would “work sanctification” in us as we believe (2 Thess. 2:13) Yet How do we appropriate the Spirit’s sanctifying power? More on that next post! To hear a message about this topic, click on the link below:http://mp3.cookingwithsql.com/sermon_081714.mp3