Deeper Life #26

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.

—1 Thessalonians 4:3

WHEN A SOUL IS ENTIRELY sanctified, the chances are ten to one that the saint will stay there. The experience of sanctification is as stable as God’s throne. The soul that slips out of it does not slip unconsciously, but deliberately withdraws from God. Do not take my word for it. Take the Bible and search, and you will learn what real backsliding is. It is “forgetting the first love” and going back (Revelation 2:4).

I do not believe that I have met many real backsliders, but I have met many people (and so have you) who never “slid forward,” as someone has said. These souls come moping and mourning about, and are generally accepted as having backslidden, when they have never really gotten near God. But just let Jesus Christ get those souls into entire sanctification, and the chances are that they will go right on in the divine life. Do you know when I feel the most inclined to shout? It is when a believer says, “I thought I was sanctified, but I am not.” Then I know that person will get to the place where God wants him.

Prayer Thought: Let me know the certainty of being completely Yours, Lord.

SUGGESTED READING: 1 Thessalonians 4:3–8