Sanctification

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I am a little late with this Week in Words, because I have spent basically all of February (so far) fighting, and finally, it would seem, recovering from bronchitis.  It has been brutal!  But, after a round of antibiotics, and multiple cough medicines, I am feeling much better!!  The bright side, if there is one, of feeling so awful for so long is that I have had plenty of time to work on my reading list!! 

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For the past week or so, I have been ignoring almost everything else on my list, because I cannot seem to put down Dug Down Deep, by Joshua Harris.  There are so many great quotes in there, and if copyright laws didn’t prevent it, I would probably try to transcribe the entire book for you right here.  But, since I can’t, I’ll just share one of my favorites from this week:

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“God’s Word teaches that sanctification isn’t optional for believers.  Hebrews 12:14 says, ‘Strive for…holiness without which no one will see the Lord.’ That verse always sobers me.  It says that if there isn’t some degree of holiness in our lives, there’s a real question of whether we’ve truly experienced God’s saving work.  If we don’t love what Jesus loves, if we don’t want to be like him, then maybe we’ve never really met him.

This isn’t to say that our good works earn our salvation – we are saved only by grace (Ephesians 2:8). But the way we live proves the reality of our salvation.” (pg. 151)

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If you’d like to play along, visit Melissa at Breath of Life, and link up your words here.   They can be from any written source, i.e. magazine, newspaper, blog, book. The only requirement is that they be words you read.