“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it” (1 Thess 5:-16-24 NKJV).
He will do it. There is a tone of confidence in these words which bespeaks the unwavering faith of the Apostle in the faithfulness and power of God to do for these early Christian folk what indeed is needed by all of us; first, to be sanctified wholly, and secondly, to be preserved without blame until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can hardly realise how much this meant for men and women reared amid the excesses and evils of those days, when religion was another name for unbridled indulgence. Blamelessness of life, the stainless habit of the soul, sell-restraint—these were the attributes of the few whose natures seemed cast in a special mould. And yet how strong the assertion of the Apostle that, in the face of the insurmountable difficulties, the God of Peace would do even as much for them.
We must distinguish between blamelessness and faultlessness. The latter [fautlessness] can only be ours when we have passed into the presence of His glory, and are presented faultless before Him with exceeding joy (Jude 1:24). The former [blamelessness], however, is within the reach of each of us, because God has said that He will do it. The Agent of the blameless life is God Himself. None beside could accomplish so marvellous a result, and He does it by condescending to indwell the soul. As His glory filled Solomon’s Temple [1 Kings 8:11], so He waits to infill the spirit, soul, and body of those who trust Him.
He will do it as the God of Peace. The mightiest forces are the stillest. Who ever heard the day break, or detected the footfall of Spring? Who thinks of listening for the throb of gravitation, or the thud of the forces that redden the grape, golden the corn, and cover the peaches with bloom? So God works in the hearts of those who belong to Him. When we think we are making no progress, He is most at work. The presence of ozone in the air can only be detected by a faint colour on a piece of litmus-paper, and God’s work in the soul is only apparent as the bloom of perfect love is shown in the life.
PRAYER
Almighty God, who loves us, and to whom are known our yearnings for this blessed life; work within us, quietly, gently, mightily, ridding us of the love of sin, and producing within us that blamelessness of soul which in Your sight is of priceless value. AMEN.
F. B. Meyer, Our Daily Walk, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1951). October 26 reading.
Note. The Cross has made the believer flawless in terms of his standing in justification (Rom. 5:1;8:1). The prayer of 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is that the believer’s state would be increasingly flawless in thoughts, words, character and actions. We are to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29;2 Cor. 7:1; Eph. 4:20-32). – JBW
Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847-1929), a contemporary and friend of D. L. Moody … was a Baptist pastor and evangelist in England involved in ministry and inner city mission work on both sides of the Atlantic. Author of numerous religious books and articles, many of which remain in print today, he was described in an obituary as The Archbishop of the Free Churches.” – Wikipedia