Quotes about sanctification
John Owen - The Mortification of Sin
a sense of the love of Christ in the cross lie at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification
Leo Tolstoy - Leo Tolstoy: Spiritual Writings
The sanctification of political power by Christianity is blasphemy it is the negation of Christianity.
W. Ian Thomas -
To be in Christ -- that is redemption but for Christ to be in you -- that is sanctification!
Joe Thorn - Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself
Keep yourselves from idols." The warning isn't given to them because it wasn't a real danger or because there was an off chance someone might fall into idolatry. It was given because this is our root problem on any given day. It is what we, especially as followers of Jesus, must fight against.
Ellen G. White - Patriarchs And Prophets
Sensual indulgence weakens the mind and debases the soul. The moral and intellectual powers are benumbed and paralyzed by the gratification of the animal propensities and it is impossible for the slave of passion to realize the sacred obligation of the Law of God, to appreciate the atonement, or to place right value upon the soul.
Watchman Nee - The Normal Christian Life
Man's thought is always of the punishment that will come to him if he sins. God's thought is always of the glory man will miss if he sins. God's purpose for redemption is glory, glory, glory.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship
The real difference in the believer who follows Christ and has mortified his will and died after the old man in Christ, is that he is more clearly aware than other men of the rebelliousness and perennial pride of the flesh, he is conscious of his sloth and self-indulgence and knows that his arrogance must be eradicated. Hence there is a need for daily self-discipline.
Matt Chandler -
As we gaze on Christ, the mind is informed, and the heart is inflamed, and the body begins to line up.
David McGee -
On God's calendar, there are no ordinary days.
Tenth Avenue North -
We are caught in the in between of what we already are what we are yet to be.
Rachel Walden -
When we love God in sincerity and with consistency, He gives us the desires of our heart. And as we love Him how we should be loving Him, our desires are somehow supernaturally conformed to be His desires for us! So, love God, with all that you are in all truth and devotion, and He will reward you according to His will. This is not something that we are capable of by ourselves, but God is faithful to give His chosen ones victory!
Terry Tempest Williams - When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
Beauty is transformed over time, and not without destruction.
G.K. Chesterton - Saint Thomas Aquinas
The author challenges how much sanctity has to do with sameness, as he says saints are as different from each other as those in any group -- even murderers.
Van Harden -
[Salvation] is a life-changing experience when it happens, and if our life isn’t changed by it, then it either didn’t happen at all or we are so caught up in this world, spending so much time, effort, and emotion on the red circle, that we are ignoring the permanent, eternal, gigantic, blue part of the map in which we will forever be.
John Meunier -
one of the great virtues of Christianity, according to (John)Wesley, is the way it fills up our every waking hour. Both (N.T.) Wright and Wesley write that Christianity is not just about what God does for us but what God does in us.
George Whitefield - 1741. in the High-Church-Yard of
When a poor soul is somewhat awakened by the terrors of the Lord, then the poor creature, being born under the covenant of works, flies directly to a covenant of works again. And as Adam and Eve hid themselves… and sewed fig leaves… so the poor sinner, when awakened, flies to his duties and to his performances, to hide himself from God, and goes to patch up a righteousness of his own. Says he, I will be mighty good now–I will reform–I will do all I can; and then certainly Jesus Christ will have
Rick Joyner -
We do not want to have mercy for the things God has under judgment. We do not want to fall in the ditch on the otherside of unsanctified mercy.
Stephen Altrogge - The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence
This book is not the memoir of a contented man. It's not the poignant reflections of a white-haired guru who has finally figured out the secret to contentment. It's more like sweaty, bloody, hastily scribbled notes from a battlefield. I'm still struggling to escape the sinister fingers on this conspiracy. I'm still waging war against the discontentment that rages in my life. I can see contentment in the distance, like a hazy oasis, but I have to pick my way through a minefield to get there. I'm
Joe Thorn - Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself
You live recklessly when you do not take God's law seriously or respond to the gospel properly. Reckless living can look like laziness and apathy. When you simply aren't motivated and tell yourself that God has forgiven you in Jesus, so you're not going to fight temptation and sin - that is reckless living, and it's far more dangerous than you realize.
Rick Lambert - a destroyer of our gods
Everything we encounter today is used by God to prepare us for tomorrow. he wastes no trials, withholds no blessings, nor does he hold back on the discipline of his soldiers. All He does prepares us for future usefulness as vessels of honor.
Eugene H. Peterson - Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers
Cross and resurrection are the South and North polls, true gospel polarities, of a single, undivided, salvation world. Remove either Paul and you've got salvation.
William Kilpatrick - Psychological Seduction
One way to handle the discrepancy between our beliefs and our sinful inclinations is to repent, pray for grace and forgiveness, and struggle on in the belief that God will forge a greater harmony for us out of our battle with sin. That is the Christian approach. ~ p.75
Michael S. Horton - Calvin on the Christian Life: Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever
Monastic spirituality concentrated on private disciplines, as if detaching oneself from "the world" (i.e. society) might make one holier. Anabaptist piety was similar in that regard. However, Calvin thought of sanctification as a family affair. How could one learn loving humility, patience, wisdom, and forgiveness in isolation from others?
Charles Haddon Spurgeon - Gleanings Among the Sheaves
There should be as much difference between the worldling and the Christian, as between hell and heaven, between destruction and eternal life.
Mark Buchanan - Your God Is Too Safe: Rediscovering the Wonder of a God You Can't Control
We honestly think that we ourselves and those around us should be proficient with spiritual power, moving and acting with agility and endurance, wisdom and purity, able to conquer long-established habits of sloth and rebelliousness, simply on the basis of our desire and effort and sincerity...We have to train for the spiritual life.
Samuel Bolton - The True Bounds Of Christian Freedom
We cry down the law in respect of justification, but we set it up as a rule of sanctification. The law sends us to the Gospel that we may be justified; and the Gospel sends us to the law again to inquire what is our duty as those who are justified.
Edith Wharton - The Age of Innocence
So close to the powers of evil she must have lived that she still breathed more freely in their air.
Eugene H. Peterson - Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers
The end is where we start from. T.S. Eliot
John Piper - God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself
Long looking with admiration produces change. From your heroes you pick up mannerisms and phrases and tones of voice and facial expressions and habits and demeanors and convictions and beliefs. The more admirable the hero is and the more intense your admiration is, the more profound will be your transformation. In the case of Jesus, he is infinitely admirable, and our admiration rises to the most absolute worship. Therefore, when we behold him as we should, the change is profound.
Kingsley Opuwari Manuel -
Whatever confronts your faith can be a test but if it stands to oppose the content of your personality and the validity of your convictions then it's threat.
Johann Arndt - Johann Arndt: True Christianity
For true conversion doth not consist in putting away great and outward sins only, but in descending deeply into your own self, searching into the inmost recesses of the heart, the secrets and closets, all the windings and turnings thereof; changing and renewing them throughout, with the grace that is given you: and so, by faith, you are converted from self-love to Divine love; from the world and all worldly concupiscences, to a spiritual and heavenly life; and from a participation of the pomps a
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship
Justification is the new creation of the new man, and sanctification his preservation until the day of Jesus Christ.
John Piper - God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself
Part of what we pick up in looking at Jesus in the gospel is a way of viewing the whole world. That worldview informs all our values and deeply shapes our thinking and decision-making. Another part of what we absorb is greater confidence in Jesus' counsel and his promises. This has its own powerful effect on what we fear and desire and choose. Another part of what we take up from beholding the glory of Christ is greater delight in his fellowship and deeper longing to see him in heaven. This has
Tom Payne - A Guide to God's Perplexing Path
When we appear to be “more a loser than a victor” on the Path it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we are growing spiritually.
Elisabeth Elliot - Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot
One does not surrender a life in an instant. That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime. Nor is surrender to the will of God (per se) adequate to fullness of power in Christ. Maturity is the accomplishment of years, and I can only surrender to the will of God as I know what that will is.
James MacDonald -
Human sin is stubborn, but not as stubborn as the grace of God and not half as persistent, not half so ready to suffer to win its way
Richard Rohr - Adam's Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation
You cannot contain evil by shaming it, or making people feel guilty, but only by revealing it toward it is, and then seeing the good as better.
Watchman Nee - The Normal Christian Life
The author tells a story wherein a missionary friend of his was invited by unbelievers on a train ride to play cards. The friend declined, saying that he did not bring his hands with him. He explained to the astonished group that the hands attached to what they saw as his body belonged to the Lord, and he was thereby able to explain the Gospel.
N.T. Wright - After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters
What Paul understands by holiness or sanctification (is) the learning in the present of the habits which anticipate the ultimate future.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon -
The Church, like her head, has a glory, but it is concealed from carnal eyes, for the time of her breaking forth in all her splendour is not yet come.
Stephen Davey -
It is possible to feel angered by the compromises all around us, while remaining apathetic to the compromises inside us.
David Platt - Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live.
As you call people to submit to the Person of Christ, you can trust the Spirit of Christ to lead them to salvation.
Mark Batterson - All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life
You can be saved without suffering, but you cannot be sanctified without suffering. That doesn't mean you seek it out, but it does mean you see it for what it is. It's an opportunity to glorify God.
Richard J. Foster - Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
Celebration comes when the common features of life are redeemed.
Jon Morrison - Life Hacks: Nine Ideas That Will Change How You Do Everything
God’s will for you is to make you more like Jesus. Christlikeness is your target, your goal, your vision, and the reason you were created. You are set apart to be like Jesus. That goal will take the rest of your life to accomplish." (Life Hacks, p.61)
Fulton J. Sheen - Life of Christ
Holiness must have a philosophical and theological foundation, namely, Divine truth; otherwise it is sentimentality and emotionalism. Many would say later on, 'We want religion, but no creeds.' This is like saying we want healing, but no science of medicine; music, but no rules of music; history, but no documents. Religion is indeed a life, but it grows out of truth, not away from it. It has been said it makes no difference what you believe, it all depends on how you act. This is psychological n
Timothy J. Keller - The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: "If I was saved by my good works -- then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace -- at God's infinite cost -- then there's nothing he cannot ask of me.
Gary Patton -
Jesus Followers are called to be reflectors of His character, servants of his grace, ambassadors of His message and magnifiers of His glory!” ~ © gfp '42
John Wesley -
Purge me from every sinful blot;My idols all be cast aside: Cleanse me from every evil thought,From all the filth of self and pride.The hatred of the carnal mind Out of my flesh at once remove:Give me a tender heart, resigned, And pure, and full of faith and love.
A.W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God
With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus' flesh, with nothing on God's side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without? Why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter at all to look upon God? We hear the Bridegroom say, `Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely.' (Song of Sol 2:14) We sense that the call is for us, but still we fail to draw near, and the years pass and we grow o
Mark Buchanan - Your God Is Too Safe: Rediscovering the Wonder of a God You Can't Control
But grace and effort are not opposites. Grace and earning are opposites.
Ernest F. Kevan - Grace of Law: A Study in Puritan Theology
Sin is the transgression of the law, the death of Christ is the satisfaction of the law, justification is the verdict of the law, and sanctification is the believer's fulfillment of the law.
David Platt -
The way to conquer sin is not by working hard to change our deeds, but by trusting Jesus to change our desires. Follow Me, pg. 111.
Matthew Henry -
Wherever there is true grace, there is a desire for more grace.
Michael S. Horton -
American Christianity is a story of perpetual upheavals in churches and individual lives. Starting with the extraordinary conversion experience, our lives are motivated by a constant expectation for the Next Big Thing. We're growing bored with the ordinary means of God's grace, attending church week in and week out. Doctrines and disciplines that have shaped faithful Christian witness in the past are often marginalized or substituted with newer fashions or methods. The new and improved may dazzl
Van Harden - Life in the Purple Wedge!
When you became a Christian, you were still susceptible to living the way you learned to live before. Your brain was not wiped clean. That conflicts with this new life to which you gave yourself. Is it easy being a Christian in this world today? No! You are living in two contrary worlds at the same time. The two worlds have collided!
Michael S. Horton -
The real problem is that our values are changing and the new ones are wearing us out. But they're also keeping us from forming genuine, long-term, and meaningful commitments that actually contribute to the lives of others. Over time, the hype of living a new life, taking up a radical calling, and changing the world can creep into every area of our life. And it can make us tired, depressed, and mean. Michael Horton, Ordinary, 13-14
Colin S. Smith - Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life
The Bible is different because it is the Word of God, by which He speaks to me. Disagreeing with the Bible would be disagreeing with God. So when I read the Bible I want to place myself ‘under’ it. I want to receive the Scripture in such a way that over time, my thinking, feeling, choosing, believing and behaving will be molded by the Word God is speaking into my life. I don’t want to critique the Scriptures; I want them to critique me and change me.
Elizabeth Goudge - The Rosemary Tree
Progress in evil was quick and easy; Apollyon was not a chap who hid himself and he gave every assistance in his power. The growth in goodness was so slow, at times so flat, so dull, and like the White Queen one had to run so fast to stay where one was, let alone progress; and there were few men who dared to say they had found God. It was easy to be a clever sinner, for the race to an earthly visible goal was short to run, so impossibly hard to be a wise saint, with the goal set at so vast a dis
Charles Haddon Spurgeon -
If Christ has died for me, I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend.
Martin Luther - Commentary on Romans
To progress is always to begin always to begin again
Preston Sprinkle -
Grace, on the other hand, means that God is pursuing you. That God forgives you. That God sanctifies you. When you are apathetic toward God, He is never apathetic toward you. When you don’t desire to pray and talk to God, He never grows tired of talking to you. When you forget to read your Bible and listen to God, He is always listening to you. Grace means that your spirituality is upheld by God’s stubborn enjoyment of you.Charis: God's Scandalous Grace for Us (p. 76).
Oswald Chambers - Not Knowing Where
Only one in a thousand sits down in the midst of it all and says—I will watch my Father mend this. God must not be treated as a hospital for our broken “toys,” but as our Father.
Layton Talbert -
God's fundamental goal for believers is not to protect us from harm or suffering, to make us comfortable, or to benefit from our service. You can biblically sum up God's primary aim for your whole life in one uncomfortable word: change. Ironic as it may sound, change is the one constant that God purposes for every believer, regardless of circumstances - whether you are in ministry or in a secular job, married or single, healthy or handicapped, chronically ill or terminally diseased. God's immedi
Lailah Gifty Akita -
Sanctification is rebirth of spirit of soul by the power of the Holy Spirit,
John Ortberg Jr. - The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You
To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God.
Sheri Dew - It Wouldn't Be Hard: And Other Reassuring Truths
If you're serious about sanctification, you can expect to experience heart-wrenching moments that try your faith, your endurance, and your patience.
Jonathan Edwards - The Religious Affections
As it is with spiritual discoveries and affections given at first conversion, so it is in all subsequent illuminations and affections of that kind; they are all transforming. There is a like divine power and energy in them as in the first discoveries; they still reach the bottom of the heart, and affect and alter the very nature of the soul, in proportion to the degree in which they are given. And a transformation of nature is continued and carried on by them to the end of life, until it is brou
John Owen -
There is no imagination wherewith man is besotted, more foolish, none so pernicious as this,- that persons not purified, not sanctified, not made holy in their life, should afterwards be taken into that state of blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God. Neither can such persons enjoy God, nor would God be a reward to them. Holiness is perfected in heaven: but the beginning of it is invariably confined to this world.
John Piper - and the Christian
The aim of the gospel is the creation of people who are passionate for doing good rather than settling for the passionless avoidance of evil.
Georges Bernanos - Under Satan's Sun
The work God carries out in us,' he said after a short pause, 'is not often what we expect. A great deal of the time the Holy Spirit seems to be working backward in us and wasting time. If a lump of iron could form an idea of the file that's slowly rough-shaping it, how furious it would be! Yet that's how God shapes us. Certain saints' lives seem horribly monotonous and desolate.
Lailah Gifty Akita -
Salvation is sanctification of soul by the Blessed Saviour.
Lailah Gifty Akita -
Sanctification of souls!
Augustine of Hippo - Confessions
My soul is like a house, small for you to enter, but I pray you to enlarge it. It is in ruins, but I ask you to remake it. It contains much that you will not be pleased to see: this I know and do not hide. But who is to rid it of these things? There is no one but you.
Richard J. Foster - Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups
Conversion does not make us perfect, but it does catapult us into a total experience of discipleship that affects - and infects - every sphere of our living.
Oswald Chambers -
Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are.
J.C. Ryle - Thoughts for Young Men
Be wise in time. What youth sows, old age must reap....Sow to yourself rather in righteousness: break up your fallow ground, sow not among thorns.
Paul David Tripp - Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change
The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed.
A.W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God
Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
Lailah Gifty - Akita
The word of God is a divine doctrine.
Lailah Gifty Akita -
How could be be sanctified? By avoiding sexual immorality.
Lailah Gifty Akita -
If we begin to study the Scriptures, our souls shall be sanctified.
Lailah Gifty Akita -
We are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Lailah Gifty Akita -
Sanctification of the Spirit is the grace of salvation.
Lailah Gifty Akita -
Without sanctification, dwell in the state of impurity.
Lailah Gifty Akita -
Sanctification leads to renewal of the spirit.