Breakfast and sanctification

1 Thessalonians 5:23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

What does being saved really mean? Theologians have long talked about the reality that we step from death into life, that in a moment our sins are forgiven when we believe in the person and work of Jesus. This is what we call being justified, or being forgiven of the sins we have committed. Being justified is when we believe in faith that God has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him. That God in essence, gets us back to zero so to speak. We have nothing on our record because God has erased it, or rather paid the debt for us. We are realigned with God. But is that enough?

God is without sin, perfect, complete, whole and He wants us to be this way too. He wants us to be without sin, perfect, complete, and whole.  God seeks to not only reconcile you to Him by removing your debt, but also to set you free so that you might actually live well. Might have your real life match up with your forgiven life. That you would be like Jesus is. Thats what sanctification is: The synching up of your real life actions, desires, hopes, and wants with the forgiveness Christ has given to you. You are declared righteous, and God wants you to become righteous.

Its like this: My son like to try and cook and the other day he "made" breakfast for the family. Scrambled eggs, waffles, bacon, strawberries, juice - it was great! But the truth is I did most of the heavy lifting. I bought the groceries. I measured the mix for the waffles. I turned on the oven and stove for the bacon and eggs. When he made mistakes, I cleaned them up and fixed them. I declared when things were done and I assigned him safe things to do so that the meal would turn out. He made breakfast because I declared he made breakfast and I let him practice the things that he could do. But when he is 30 and he makes breakfast again for his family, it won't be because I did all the lifting - it will be because his actions and ability match his declaration of making breakfast. Not to belabor the point but he can't really cook now, but he is learning to because my goal isn't just to let him watch me but to empower him to live it himself. 

Paul says the God of peace is the faithful one who can sanctify us and keep us sound and blameless until the end. God sanctifies us, makes us like Jesus, so that when we are all grown up it isn't just that we have no bad on our record, but lots and lots of good too. Being saved isn't just getting back to zero, its about being with and being like God - full of life, and love, and peace. The one who is faithful has called you to this and he will do it. Maybe you are just watching and learning now, but soon God will lead you to make breakfast too. To live in the life He has called you to.

(And thats good because God sometimes makes fish for breakfast, but I like bacon and eggs.)