Made, Positioned and Named Holy

 

Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:                       1 Corinthians 1:2

The church, the called out assembly, is made up of countless people including you and me who trusted Christ as Savior. This occurred when you called out to him because you no longer relied on good works or religious practices to get you to heaven, but instead completely rested in the finished work of Jesus Christ as complete payment for your sin. When you did this, he washed you from all your sin (1 Cor. 6:11; Rev. 1:5) and Jesus’ precious blood made you holy.

As great as that is, he wasn’t finished. He then sanctified you or positioned you set apart as holy for his use. Just as the utensils in the tabernacle for Temple were specifically set apart for spiritual purposes, God has set you apart, unto himself, for his holy work. He made you holy and positioned you as holy.

And then, the holy scriptures record God as calling us Saints. The word for saint comes from the same Greek root word which means holy. Your past—how could you forget it—consists of deeds that if others knew it today would cause you to hang your head in shame, but the great news is that those deeds cannot haunt you with God. The deeds are washed away in the blood of Christ. You might not feel holy, you might not even look holy, but holy is how the father sees you: sinless and holy.

God‘s great work in you has done three things. He made you holy, he set you apart as holy and with great love, he calls you Holy.

Rejoice in this!

Precious In His Sight (Isaiah 43:4)

I remember holding my children not long after their birth.  My son was a strapping infant with strength and vitality.  My daughter was the opposite.  She was tiny, frail and weak.  They were at opposite ends of the spectrum, but one thing each of them had in common was that they were precious in my sight.  They were precious because they were of great value.  As rare jewels and metals are sometimes called precious, my children were also precious.

When The Lord looked at us, he too saw us as precious.  Me, precious?  I don't think so.  One quick look at my past and I see anything but precious.  Just glance at my heart today and you will find tucked in the resources of it thoughts, desires and attitudes contrary to anything good.  Precious?  Not me.  How about you?  Do you find yourself the same?

It spite of all that, God still declared you and me to be precious.  The question remains.  How can God see someone like me with all of the undesirable afore mentioned qualities as precious?  Although I am not precious in and of myself and neither are you, we are precious because of what God saw we could become.

Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. (Isaiah 43:4)

Have you ever been rejected?  If so, it was because they valued you differently than your true worth.  Do you feel like you don't measure up?  Your points may be true, but you value yourself less than God values you.  Only God can see what you truly are and will become.  What we must see and accept is that we are precious in his sight.