Ephesians 4:24 says, "put on your new nature, created to be like God, truly righteous and holy". When we are born again, our spirits are sanctified. Sanctified means made holy. It also means set apart for God's purposes. Our spirits are made holy. They're made perfect. Nothing we do in life makes our spirits more holy.
Our spirit's sanctification is complete upon being born again. It is the new man, the new nature we find in Scripture. But we, like God, are three part creatures. Each of these three parts is sanctified by a different process and at a different time. We are spirits who live in a body, and we have a soul, our mind, will and emotions.
Our mind includes our thoughts and beliefs. Our will is our decisions and desires. Emotions are our feelings and how we express them. Our spirits are made holy and set apart to serve God when we're born again. But. But after you're born again, you quickly discovered that you could still have ungodly thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and you could still sin your nature.
Your spirit was sanctified, but your soul was not. Holy Spirit sanctifies our souls. He makes us holy and available to serve God. He does it day by day. So it's a lifelong process. But the process is not automatic. A lot of people are sitting back waiting for God to change them, and that's just not going to happen.
Because God isn't making robots. God wants sons and daughters. He wants friends. He wants us to love him the way he loves us. And love demands a response. Our response is to become like Christ. We must be actively engaged in loving God, renewing our minds with God's word and doing what God shows us to do.
This is the transformation process in Romans 12:1 and 2.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is.
His good, pleasing and perfect will. What are the three steps that will transform you into a new person?
First, give yourself to God, all of you. Be a living sacrifice, holy and available to do anything God wants. Second, reject the thoughts and ways of the world and renew your mind with God's word. And third, then you will know God's plans and purposes for your life. Commit to the three steps.
Do them every morning and see how God changes you as the days go by. What is the secret of growing Christian character? Christ's character isn't achieved by being good or doing good works. It is created in us. Think about this for a moment. You don't have Godliness to give to yourself.
You don't have the kind of love Jesus had on the cross
That kind of love is not human self effort. Doing good works will never create Jesus supernatural character in you. Holy Spirit does that. He creates Christ likeness in us as we renew our minds with God's Word. The process requires us to want to be like Jesus, to renew our minds by reading God's Word and to do what God shows us to do.
Becoming like Jesus is our daily act of love for God.