Faithful Creator

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1Th 5:23-24 AV)

The thing that our faithful God will do is the operation of sanctification.  Paul is not saying that he is praying our faithful God will preserve our standing before Him until death as though that standing will change.  The word ‘preserved’ means to attend to carefully.  It does not mean, as we often use it, to keep something as close the original condition as possible.  This would not make sense in that our bodies will corrupt.  They will decay and they will be replaced.  Paul in not praying for our mummification.  What he is praying for is the continued process of sanctification.  Not positional sanctification.  This does not change.  Rather, Paul is praying for the practical sanctification of those whom he has won and whom he cares for deeply.  What the Spirit wants of us today is the promise of verse twenty-four.  How much we are sanctified in this life depends upon how much we yield to the work of the Holy Spirit.

A guiding principle of a godly father is his love for his children.  He sees what they can be and uses skills to achieve that goal.  Correction is not correction for mere truth’s sake.  A godly father will correct because he can see what his child can become.  Not what his child is at the moment.  He nurtures, instructs, and governs because he sees his child as a gift from God.  He sees that child as a creation of the Creator for a purpose designed in the mind of God.  He sets bounds to limit, guide, and train that child into what the LORD desires him to be.  Correction isn’t seen as a negative thing.  It is seen as a positive.  As a means to course correct so that a future filled with purpose, calling, and blessings can become a reality.

In particular, the word ‘faithful’ is a beautiful word here.  God will not stop.  God will not cease to intervene in our lives for the purpose of change.  Whether we yield or not, He is an involved ‘parent’.  He knows what His children are into.  He knows what they are thinking and feeling.  He refuses to leave us unattended.  There is always an eye out for what we might be doing.  He is there in good times and in bad.  When we succeed in pleasing Him, or when we are a disappointment.  The LORD is there.   He is faithful!  He is always guiding.  He is always instructing.  He is always correcting.  For those who wish to live a life that glorifies God and eschew evil, this is a wonderful promise!