Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [that is, separate you from profane and vulgar things, make you pure and whole and undamaged—consecrated to Him—set apart for His purpose]; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and [be found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23 AMP)
Thessalonica (also Thessalonike) was an ancient city of Macedon in northern Greece which today is the city of Thessaloniki. Paul wrote this letter probably in A.D. 49-51 from Corinth during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-18). He has received a report from Timothy about the Thessalonians church. He writes to them to restore their hope, which has been tested by unexpected deaths in the church.
Paul encourages the church and instructs them on how to build each other up. (1Thessalonians 5:11)
If you come to think of it the struggles of Thessalonians church before are likely the same in our churches today. That’s why many preachers, teachers, and leaders of all churches are preaching about hope, restoration, endurance & perseverance, and other teachings that will help Christians to build their faith in Jesus.
Reality is, we are all struggling in a different level and churches do so, why? Because the church is composed of human beings with distinct struggles too. So, you see, we are the church itself and Jesus is our High Priest.
So now, we get to understand that It is impossible to live a Christian life without Jesus Christ at the centre. He came to be the answer to our life-questions and struggles.
Apostle Paul mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “…may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely…” [ESV]. The word “sanctify” means is to purify internally by renewing of the soul and to separate from profane things and dedicate to God. Sanctification is the will of God (1 Thessalonians 4:3), it will strengthen and establish us (1 Thessalonians 3:13). Jesus Christ allows Christians to be truly sanctified-to set apart for God’s purpose (John 17:19).
God is all-knowing. He knew that we will get to face struggles in this world. But God made sure that He will be with us even through the storms. And what is amazing about God is that He uses our struggles to sanctify us (set apart for His purpose). And God’s purpose is always good and beneficial for us.
Apostle Paul also mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “…and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and [be found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The word “blameless” there means free from sin, flawless, or keep you fit. There a lot of truths in the bible on how to live a blameless life before God but here are the truths that ultimately change how I see my life now.
3 TRUTHS TO LIVING A BLAMELESS LIFE
A life completely surrendered to God
Surrendering to God takes humility like no other. It is more than letting go of the things you have but willingly letting God operate the entirety of your life (Spirit, Soul, Body). And to completely surrender to God means you are giving everything, anything and everyone to Him. It is a willful acceptance, not an obligation or responsibilities that we need to do as a Christian. It means that we acknowledged that we are nothing and we can do nothing without God.
A life surrendered to God is a life of perfect peace
But how many of you find it hard to surrender to God? When you think about your human rights? Freedom to speak? Yielding your situations to God? Not worrying about things may come? Not to doubt when you are confused? Or even if you know that you can handle your problem?
We all need assurance of things may come and security that we can manage our situations. But God is shifting that belief because if we completely surrender our lives to Him, we can live a life in perfect peace.
A life completely devoted to God
Devoted is someone very loyal and steadfast in giving love or attention.
When we get to devote our self in Jesus by studying His Word and prayer, we are freeing our self from numerous distractions and temptations all around us. We are giving our self a favor by shutting down everything that we consider to be our distractions because we are cleansing our minds and purifying our hearts by just being with the presence of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.
A life devoted to God is a life of joy
Acts 2:42 [AMP], “They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to the instruction of the apostles, and fellowship, to eating meals together and to prayers.”
I like how Luke described the devotion of believers in his time, day, and night they were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to God through His Word, fellowship, and prayer. They practice what they’ve seen and heard in the life of Jesus and because of that, they had experienced the power of the Holy Spirit day after day after day until it became a lifestyle to them.
A life completely dependent on God
A dependent person is a person who relies on another. We all need to be dependent because we are created to be dependent humans to the God who created us. But in our society dependent is a dirty word. It’s a synonym for weak, helpless, clinging, incapable, immature, and inferior. While being independent defined as strong and confident.
John 15:4-5 [AMP] “Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.”
I like to emphasize the words “…for apart from Me you can do nothing.”. As a believer of Jesus, our dependency relies completely on Him, that means our spirit, body, and soul (mind, emotions, and will). See, how the world shifted that belief of dependency.
But easy to say than done, right?
A life dependent on God is a life of freedom
What I realized is that we find it difficult to depend on God because we are too focused on ourselves rather than fixing our eyes on Jesus. In our prayer, we often spend time talking instead of listening to God. In worship, we often complain instead of adoring Him. But if we start to depend on God we will discover the true freedom from within that will reflect on how we live our life.
To be blameless is not to be perfect but it should be a lifestyle for us believers in faith to completely surrender, completely devote and completely depend on God because by doing that we get to experience Him through and through everyday.
Questions for reflection
Are your thoughts, emotions, and will completely surrendered to God?
Do you devote your time with God? How often do you meet Him?
Is your dependency rely on God? How do you depend on Him? If not so, what hinders you to depend on Him completely?
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