Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you. Josh 3:5
Sanctify means “to set apart.” Before God would do wonderous things among the Israelites, they had to sanctify themselves. In Old Testament times, that meant fasting, ritual washings, and putting clean clothes on clean bodies. They were to present their very best if they expected God to do great things in their lives. Preparing for the Lord’s arrival required setting aside the familiar: routines, habits, private sins, dirty hands. The LORD was worthy of the best a human being could offer and would not settle for casual, disrespectful attempts to meet with Him. They prepared the way for the Lord by actively ridding themselves of anything offensive to God. That hasn’t changed. We still must approach God with humility and a desire to be rid of sin.
But Bennie didn’t
think so. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, kicked the remains of last
night’s party out of the way, and staggered to the bathroom to throw up the
rest of his hangover. He brushed an assortment of pills off his mother’s Bible
and stumbled out the door, late for church again. Maybe God would speak to him
today. Hadn’t worked so far, even after giving God 30 whole minutes every week.
Why couldn’t he connect with God like other people seemed to? Linda felt the
same way. She had tried for years to grow spiritually, but every time a new guy
came along, she threw her morals to the wind and moved in with him.
Do you
think Bennie and Linda were sanctifying themselves?
Were they preparing to meet
with God?
.
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