Give it All

May God Himself, the God of Peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. I Thessalonians 5:23-24 The spirit, soul and body refer not so much to the distinct parts of a person as to the entire being of a person. This expression is Paul's way of saying that God must be involved in every aspect of our lives. It is wrong to think that we can separate our spiritual lives from everything else, obeying God only in some ethereal sense or living for Him only one day each week, as some of us are wont to do. Christ must control all of us, not just a "religious" part. God does not come in as a military general and take control. We must give Him control. At our moment of salvation, it was we who asked Him into our hearts. With that one decision, we totally surrendered and asked Him to save us because we finally figured it out that life was really not all about us after all. That is our decision and that is our part. God gave us this strong power of choice because He wants our faith and love to be genuine and not drawn out of compulsion. God's grace is sufficient. Give it all over to Him . . . "who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." God Bless you, J.H.