Sanctified = Set Apart

“Much of stress dissipates when you acknowledge your dependence on God and submit to His leadership.”

But if it’s that easy, then why does it feel so hard sometimes?

Jeremiah 17:7-8 says “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Scripture doesn’t say you’ll experience no heat, never come under fire. It doesn’t promise no dry seasons or years of drought. In fact, it assures the opposite. (John 16:33, 1 Peter 5:10, James 1:2-3, Acts 14:22).

The secret is where you place your trust. Where you rest your eyes.

Sanctified: (adj.) to be set apart for a sacred purpose.

Those are some pretty big words. I like words, often of the mindset of “The bigger, the better.” Sacred is a big word. And this definition—which I pulled directly from Mirriam-Webster—suggests that God could have a sacred purpose for my life.

That’s more than big. That’s huge. Kinda makes ya wanna skip to the good part, right? Go from Good Friday to Easter Sunday with no mind for Silent Saturday.

But sanctification cannot be achieved without first transformation.

2 Corinthians 6:11 calls us washed, sanctified, justified. But in the verses before, it called us cheaters, wrongdoers, and idolaters. Thieves and slanderers. We are all the least of these.

But Jesus.

In Ephesians, Paul prays for the eyes of our hearts to be opened . . . why? “So that we may know hope.” Fix our eyes on Christ Jesus. We are recipients of a glorious inheritance, co-heirs to Heaven. (Ephesians 1:18-19, Philippians 3:20).

Philippians 3:21 talks of a secondary transformation—one where we will be made like Him. And I find this particularly interesting. Because two thousand years ago, it was He who was made like us.

God made man in His own image, then humbled Himself by making Himself in man’s image.

Philippians 2:7-8 details this process. “Rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

And as a man, Jesus struggled. He faced temptation, sorrow, grief. (Matthew 4:1, Matthew 26:38, John 11:35).

The very things we pray for Him to deliver us from, He Himself faced to show us we could overcome them . . . through Him (John 16:33).

Proverbs 3:5-8 instructs us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, leaning not our own understanding, but submitting to Him fully. It is then that He will make our paths straight.

The Hebrew word for “make your path straight” is yashar, and it includes the idea of removing obstacles that are in the way. God will remove the stressful paths. He does not say when or how; He just promises that He will.

And maybe, forgetting that that’s good enough is where we fail, where we allow stress to creep in. We become so hyper-focused on the obstacles that we totally neglect the path. But all paths lead somewhere, don’t they? And you and I? We’ve been set apart. Sanctified. Our lives yield sacred purpose. Our paths lead directly to Him.

Philippians 4:19 issues us the most assuring promise that God will meet ALL our needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ.

Why?

Because, friends, we have been sanctified. Set apart and made brand new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Because of its trust in the stream, the tree planted by the water never fails to bear fruit. You and I have been filled with the Living Water. By placing (and leaving) our trust in Him, so shall we never fail to bear fruit.

We aren’t strangers; we haven’t been forgotten.

We’ve been set apart.

He knows us, and He calls us sacred.

We need only to place our trust in the Provider, rest our eyes on the path, and walk in our purpose.