READ: 1
CORINTHIANS 6:15-20
The object
of Christian holiness is so important that we cannot afford to handle it with
levity. God has made enough provision for your holiness or sanctification. You
must hanker after the experience until you have attained it. To be sanctified
is good but it takes serious efforts to keep the blessing. How do we remain
sanctified? We are to do two simple things. The first thing to do is to love
your Husband as much as He loves you. Of course, your Husband is Jesus Christ.
He loves you with all His heart, all His soul, strength and mind. All that He
is asking from you is that you should return the love. Jesus Christ said in
John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his
friend.” We must love Jesus so much that we should be ready to die for
Him. Like the Christian lady who was ready to die for Christ instead of
denying Him so as to get married, or
those who were ready to call the name of Jesus Christ even at the face of the
gun of the enemies. Another way that you can show Jesus that you are ready to
die for Him and live according to His will is recorded in Romans 12:1.”I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable
service.” Present your body as a living sacrifice. What is a living sacrifice?
Let us give an illustration. A living sacrifice is like the goat we used to
give the witch doctors in those days when we used to visit them, in order to
appease the gods for us. The goat is kept in the witch doctor’s yard. You do
not have a right to ask for your goat back. He can do whatever he likes with
the goat. He can decide to rear it, sell it or kill it. The goat is what is
called a living sacrifice. The goat is alive but it can be dealt with in anyway
the witch doctor considers. In the same manner, when you become a living
sacrifice to your Husband, your are telling the Lord that He can do whatever He
likes with you. This is another way of saying that you are ready to lay down
your life for Him. The second thing you are to do to remain sanctified is to
love yourself, not because of yourself, but because you belong to your Husband,
because you are His favourite and you are set apart for Him. You belong to Him.
MEMORIZE:
ROMANS 12:1 -I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service.
