…to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy… (1 Corinthians 1:2, NIV)
So let’s say you’re standing on the first tee with your regular group of honyockers (a delightful 19th Century term that one of my friends calls everyone on the course who seems to have no idea what they’re doing). It’s a sunny day and the buddy you love to rib the most has just set his ball on the tee when up walks Johnny Miller.
This’ll be good, you think. Johnny’s always up for a good dig.
Have we disqualified ourselves in our own minds from the calling given to people “sanctified in Christ Jesus”?But he steps right up to your pal, puts his hand on his shoulder, looks him in the eye, and says, “Brother, what are you doing here with these ne’er-do-wells? You’re called to be a pro!” Then he says, “Come with me,” and heads right off the tee with your buddy in tow.
The rest of you stare at one another in disbelief and then all start yapping at once. “Him? Him? Called to be a pro? How?”
A little bit of fiction like this can help us see right to the truth sometimes. We’d never expect one of our playing partners to turn pro one day, and we’d also never expect Johnny Miller to show up and suggest he or she should be one.
Surely this is what some of the Corinthians must have been thinking when a letter from Paul—the apostle Paul!—showed up one day, and immediately upon identifying himself, he proceeded to declare his readers as those “called to be holy.” After all, these were the Corinthians, corrected in this same letter for divisions in the church, tacit approval on an incestuous relationship, suing one another, sexual immorality, and impropriety and disorder in worship. They weren’t just thinking that their brother or sister would could never be holy; they had to be thinking this about their own selves.
I wonder now if we think the same. Have we disqualified ourselves in our own minds from the calling given to people “sanctified in Christ Jesus”?
It is common enough for a modern-day Christian to allow that they are being sanctified. This is the equivalent of the humble confession that we “have not arrived.” And yes, humility is our charge.
But alongside this charge comes the calling to be holy—to max out our righteousness, if you will. I can hear you asking, “How can this be?” I’ve asked the same myself. And yet there it is plain as day in Scripture, borne out in the inspired words given to the apostle Paul. We are called to be holy. Let us consider today how we will answer that call.
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Jeff Hopper
September 18, 2017
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.