Even Your Sanctification

“Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”-Isaiah 53:12

In the book of first Peter, Peter writes that Christ left us the example and we should follow his steps.  In Jesus’s steps, who “did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.”  Who submitted to the will of God.  He who poured out his soul unto death.  The essences of who He was, completely exhausted and emptied; wholly committed to the will of the Father so that we might partake in the same fellowship and enjoy the same relationship. 

Those living in holy matrimony can tell you that there was a before, and a after.  The bachelor life is the "before".  In bachelor life, for the most part, your time and money is spent on you.  Where you go, what you do, whom you are with…. Those decisions are centered around you.  In marriage, it is not about “you” anymore but “us.”  The love of “us” is greater than the love of “you”.  If this is so then marriage is wonderful, if not, then it is a constant struggle.  If the marriage is going to grow it takes love, sacrifice, commitment, and dedication to the “us.”  Furthermore, it requires a death to the idea of “you.”  In this, we find the spiritual foundation that keeps the holy in holy matrimony.  We find a personal analogy for the will of God concerning His children. 

The Bible says: “this is the will of God even your sanctification.”  Sanctification is the perfect union between God and man.  It is not a blanket union for everyone that extends through the line of time.  Rather an individual union that brings salvation to those who believe through the power of Jesus’s blood.  It is your commitment to Christ and His commitment to you.  Which means, if you have not said your vows and received the witness of the Spirit then you are not wed to Him.  Moreover, if you are not wed to Christ then you are not sanctified and if you are not sanctified then you are lost.  Regardless of your current relationship status, Jesus Christ wants to be married to you.  He wants you to die out of bachelorhood and embrace the beauty of marriage.  We as people are born into this world harboring this awful darkness within, that the Bible labels as sin.  It is a two-part problem; one part is carnal sin, which is an inherited uncontrollable desire to disobey God.  The other part is committed sin, which is the conscious decision to disobey God.  The committed is driven by the carnal, and the whole of sin is rooted and grounded in self.  Selfish desires, selfish wishes, wants, ways, etc.  The bachelor life is a selfish life, a sinful life, and a sinful life is a hard life.  A hard life that brings no glory to God, and no reward in the end.  This is why there must, must, must be a death to “you”; if there is ever going to be “us.”  In prayer, you must pour out your soul unto death.  Giving it all over to Jesus Christ, committing yourself to his direction.  The same way a bride commits to her husband in holy matrimony.  This happens at the altar, and it happens every day in the marriage.  To keep the “us” you must keep “you” in the grave.

Christ is the groom, and he wants there to be an “us.”  He wants this for every single person on Earth.  However, for there to be an “us” you must first die out to the idea of “you.”  The same as Jesus did.  The cross is His example, the cross is His courtship, and the cross is His proposal.