Welcome

We are an organization dedicated to sanctification. So, what is sanctification? Sanctification is the process of being set apart, being designated for a specific purpose. SanctifyMe.org is about discovering who God has made us to be and learning to give ourselves over to that purpose. 

 

To say “Sanctify Me” is a request to God to bring about change so we can be more like who we were meant to be. It is not called “Sanctify Myself”. It recognizes that we don’t do it on our own, the truth is, by the time we could even ask to be sanctified, God has already been at work. We believe that if you are on this website, reading this, there’s a really good chance God is at work in you. Our part then is to join with God where he is working. We are held responsible for doing our part, but we must always recognize it’s not possible without God. 

 

If you are here and you don’t believe in God, or not the God who sanctifies, and you’re still reading, that’s great. This site should be useful for anyone trying to make positive changes in their life and we hope that you stay so we can learn from each other and grow. Much of the site will be dedicated to teaching about how the Christian faith and worldview provides motivation, power and direction to live as we were designed. There are helpful things that come from many different sources, and it will be good for us to discuss these.

 

There is too much to be said here on this welcome page about the Christian worldview and doctrine of sanctification, but it would be good to get things started off with the basic and foundational good news. You know how many times people start off conversations by saying “Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?” It is like this here also, along with the good news, there is bad news. Since you are not here to say which you’d like to hear first, it will be presented as follows.

 

The good news is that the longings you have for intimacy, fellowship, wholeness, purpose, excitement, joy, peace, righteousness, freedom and love can all be fulfilled beyond your imagination! It may seem like a ridiculous fairytale when said this way, and the bad news may also seem like a ridiculous fairytale. The bad news is something like eternal torment, a constant and never-ending wasting away, a grinding guilt, a burning terror and unquenchable thirst. Yes, the whole fire and brimstone. Ridiculous, right? Preposterous! But no, the terrifying and amazing truth is that these are real. Dare to believe!

 

Relevant questions here involve asking for evidence of these two outcomes and asking about what it takes to secure the favorable outcome. Looking at the actual story of the good news, or the Gospel, should help to answer these and more. The story goes something like this. 

 

There was one God, in three persons, existing outside of time. Existing in perfect love and fellowship, with all power, wisdom and weight of glory. As an expression of these attributes, God made the universe and all that was in it. After creating man and woman in the image of himself, he was with them and gave them much freedom. Yet there was one boundary set in place, and this one boundary was transgressed. If you know the story, you might be picturing a man and woman by an apple tree that has a snake in it. It’s close enough to correct to be useful. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and eating of it would make them die. 

 

They ate, and their sentence was given. They would not be able henceforth to partake of the tree of life. It was not just punishment, but merciful salvation. See, they had disobeyed God, and now they knew they had disobeyed and could therefore not be in perfect fellowship with God. They were afraid of what they had done and hid. They would be unable to restore what was broken. But God, knowing this would happen, had established a rescue plan from before time, but it would require them to die so that they could be restored to new life and enter again into perfect fellowship.

 

We have all gone astray, taken paths we thought best to ourselves rather than obey God and his laws. In fact, we are so far from the true idea of having a perfect relationship with him that it can seem foreign and awkward to consider walking with God in a garden in a perfect and loving relationship for eternity. Yet, on our hearts, God has put the imprint of this eternal happiness. We connect with it in the stories that surround us and the drama we experience. It is why we remain unsatisfied by the things on earth. Deep down, our hearts long for something that is not of this world. When we try to satisfy ourselves with the things of this world we remain discontented, and frustrated. Even worse, these things often are destructive, going against God’s good design for how we can live at peace with him and with others and with ourselves. 

 

The good news is that God’s rescue plan was not just for those first people, Adam and Eve, but it is for all those who would receive it. The rescue ladder has been lowered and it is just a question of being willing to grab it and hold onto it. The sentence of death has been given to all who have strayed from God’s laws, but that price has been paid by Jesus, who lived perfectly and had no penalty to pay of his own. Jesus, being the perfect son of God, gave his life for ours when he gave himself up on the cross. Our salvation is to give up our life and to take up his perfect life. We must die to ourselves, and ultimately actually die, in order to receive the life of Jesus. And, “dying to self” is just agreeing that God’s way is best and aligning your life to it, confessing to God that you receive his forgiveness offered to you by Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for your waywardness. 

 

The Bible shows God’s law and design in words which helps us to know how to live rightly. It reveals his design. There is also much to know about God’s design without the Bible. If you don’t believe the Bible is from God, then at least you can observe the design around you. Take for example the design of our bodies. They work best if they are fed certain foods. Keep in mind that though some would say they were made to want sugary or fatty foods, too much of these have been shown to have ill effects. So there is a disconnect between what we might want and what is best. The Bible is the main way Christians determine right from wrong.

 

If we can’t trust our own desires to point us in the right direction, the direction provided by the Bible proves to be a welcomed resource. But knowing what’s right is only half the battle. You see, our hearts are sick. As mentioned before, we may want many things that are not good for us, including doing things that are against God’s law. But God provides a help for those who have agreed to follow him. This is where the third person of the infinite God comes in. The Holy Spirit who regenerated the heart so it could turn to God also empowers the believer to understand the truth of the Bible and to desire God’s way more. God does not need our best behavior and honors faith more than sacrifice, but God loves us more than just to leave us as we were.

 

Once this process begins, it will carry on to completion until the day we meet our Maker in heaven. Then the heart will be perfected to desire only the good as we see the fullness of good and are taken away by it. So, for those who believe Jesus died for their sins and for those who have a sense of right and wrong by the grace of those things God has made visible around us, let us journey together toward that good.