1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
[23] “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

The first thing to notice is that this is a blessing: it is a biblically inspired hope for the reader to experience a blessing from the Lord. You can often spot them by the presence of ‘may’ at the beginning of the blessing.

Paul is wishing for the Thessalonians to experience a specific blessing based on the direct work of God: “may the God of preach himself.” Paul wants God to act and he wants us to know that this act is something God desires to do. Listen, Thessalonians, I want you to experience the undeserved power of God and I want to let you know that this is one of the ways God desires to give you this favor/power. He will act on your behalf and you will experience it.

Well, what is it that God wants to use his undeserved power to accomplish in this case for us: “to sanctify us completely.”

If you examine just the sheer number of times Paul mentions sanctification or its effects you will find that Paul is much more often concerned with positional sanctification than progressive.

Positional sanctification is the fact that once we are in Christ we are considered holy, saints, like Jesus. Paul looks forward into our future knowing that because God is faithful to his promises (in this case the promise is being made holy one day) because he is faithful to his promises we can already live knowing that it is a done deal. Every time you see Paul calling this or that Christian ‘saint’ you know he has in mind is positional sanctification: the process is done.

Progressive sanctification however is the one we are more familiar with. It is the very real process believers must walk in to become more and more like Jesus. It is the putting off of sin and putting on of Jesus. It is the forsaking sin and embracing Jesus. [BTW: we are not yet ‘made holy’ as some teach, we are not yet ‘glorified’ and we will always be those who had sinned and were redeemed by the Savior!] Every time you see Paul calling saints to forsake sin you know he has progressive sanctification in mind.

And here Paul communicates that the God of peace himself sanctifies us completely. And so we don’t miss the point he piles it on: “may your whole spirit and soul and body:” every part of you, completely!

But what does Paul expect God to do for every part of us? May every part of us “be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Yes, this life is a painful de-dross-ing; it is a frustrating purification. And, on that day, when Jesus returns, it will be complete.

You are struggling now; you are suffering now; yes, it is real and it hurts: it—is—worth—it!

Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

You can have hope in your pain because the God of Peace Himself will see to it that all your pain has the right effect: to make you more like Jesus!

“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

Trust him through it!

Praise Jesus!!!