December 4

Read: I Thessalonians 5:14-24

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it (I Thessalonians 5:23-24).

The Prayer For Entire Sanctification

Who can question the rightness and goodness of the kind of life that Paul asks of Christians in verses 14 to 22? Here is care for those who cannot help themselves; the returning of good for evil; an inner radiance when life is hard; consistent prayer-contact with God thankfulness to Him in spite of difficult circumstances; ready response to the guidance of the Holy Spirit; serious consideration of godly counsels; eagerness to find the right, and care to avoid even the appearance of wrong. Who could challenge this ideal? But who can hope to live up to it?

Paul is quick to point out the possibility of the impossible. It was not the Seabees in World War II; it was Chrysostom, a leader of the Church, who first coined the words, “The impossible takes a little longer.” If God can but sanctify us wholly, He can do the impossible for us. Did I say if God can sanctify us? From his own experience Paul is ready with the answer to my if: “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

“Entire sanctification is not achieved; it is received. It is not attained; it is obtained. It is not by striving; it is by yielding. It is not by trying, but by trusting. God does it. We are not made holy by our faulty wisdom and puny efforts, but by the sanctifying energies of the Spirit of God”

(W. E. McCumber).

The prayer of today’s text is Paul’s prayer that the early Christians who had these needs might also have this grace. Are my real spiritual needs any different from theirs? Would the answer to this prayer be the answer to my needs?