Understanding Sanctification: Honoring God with Your Body and Your Life

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Sanctification might sound like a complex or unfamiliar term, but at its core, it simply means setting something apart for God’s use to bring Him glory. It’s about dedicating something—whether it’s your time, your possessions, your gifts or talents, or even your life—to serve His purpose and not your own.

In John 17:17 (NIV), as Jesus was praying for His disciples before His crucifixion, He asked His Father to “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” To sanctify means to purify, to set apart, to consecrate, and to make holy.

According to the dictionary, purify means:

1. to free from anything that debases, pollutes, adulterates, or contaminates

2. to free from foreign, extraneous, or objectionable elements

3. to free from guilt or evil

4. to clear or purge

5. to make clean for ceremonial or ritual use

This puts an entirely different perspective on what Jesus was praying for us!

How are we sanctified? Jesus gave us the answer: through and by God’s word. You can only be purified through something that is totally pure to begin with.

What is God’s word? It’s actually two things: the written word of God—the Bible—and the Word of God made flesh—Jesus.

Let’s start with the most important first: Jesus. John 1:1-3 (NIV) tells us,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.”

Through His blameless, guiltless, totally pure life and His substitutionary death on the cross, Jesus freed those who would believe in Him from the guilt of sin. Heb 9:22 (Ampl) tells us,

“In fact, under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.”

We are therefore sanctified in the sight of God only through Jesus and His shed blood for us.

Then there is the written, or Logos, word of God. Eph 5:26 tells us that we are sanctified and cleansed by the washing of the water that is the word of God. Ps. Chuck Swindoll says, “Just as clear, fresh water cleanses our bodies, God's written Word washes us clean deep down inside our souls. It purifies our thoughts, scrubs our motives, and cleans our conscience as we absorb it and obey its truths.”

Once we become believers in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior, our lives from that point forward should be an ongoing process of sanctification, dedication, and holiness: of being purified from worldly and lustful desires and of being “in the world but not of the world” by changing the way we think and act to line up with the word of God—the Bible— and the Word of God—the example of how Jesus lived. Sanctification involves connecting your faith and beliefs with who you are and who God calls you to be.

This is impossible to do alone! The good news is that we don’t have to. That’s why Jesus left us with a precious gift when He ascended back to heaven: Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is here to help us be transformed—be sanctified—instead of conforming. And it all starts with a dedication of our lives and bodies in totality to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NLT) reminds us:

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

What does it look like to honor God with our bodies? Simply put, it means taking care of them in a way that is respectful and glorifying of Him. 1 Cor 10:31 tells us that whatever we do, we should always do it not for our own glory and recognition from man, but for God’s glory.

Our bodies include our mind, will, and emotions. Taking care of God’s temple, then, involves our relationship with and to Father God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, how we live, how we move, how we think, and how we eat. This is the basis of GLEAN: A 5-fold Roadmap to Holistic Health. We have to make a decisive choice each and every day to cleanse our thoughts, motives, and actions by the washing of His word and live lives for Him and not for ourselves.

Godly stewardship of our bodies is important because when we’re physically healthy, we often feel more energized and better equipped to fulfill the purposes God has for us. Choosing wholesome food is one way we show God we’re willing to steward our health so we can serve Him more fully. Exercise matters too. Keeping your body strong and active helps you stay ready for the work God wants to do through you.

However, it goes beyond physical fitness—it’s about living in balance. God created us with a need for rest, nourishing food, and regular movement. He is invested in our well-being! Psalm 119:73 (TLB) says,

“You made my body, Lord; now give me sense to heed your laws.”

Maybe your body needs more rest. It’s easy to sacrifice sleep for late-night entertainment, but it often leaves us drained and less effective the next day. Psalm 127:2 (TLB) puts it plainly:

“It is senseless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night…for God wants his loved ones to get their proper rest.”

Or perhaps it’s your eating habits that need attention, or your thought life, or how you spend your time. Maybe it’s about how you talk about others, how you spend your money, the language you use, what you watch or listen to, or who you associate with.

We are all full of “pollutants, contaminants, and objectionable elements.” No one is immune! But as Christians, we should not stay that way, which is what sanctification is all about. It’s about filling the cup of our lives with the pure and cleansing word of God so that the pollutants are slowly filtered out. It’s about looking into the mirror of God’s word and allowing the regenerative work of Holy Spirit to change us so that day by day what is reflected back looks, sounds, and acts more like Him. We are to be “continually and progressively transformed into His image from one degree of glory to even more glory” (2 Cor 3:18 Ampl).

Ps. Rick Renner says this about 2 Cor 3:18: “It may be difficult on your flesh and pride, but eventually a time comes when you must look in the mirror to see what is really there! Self-deception is very costly. Truthfulness can be painful, but the pain is short-lived and in the end produces tremendous change. But the kind of change I am describing to you today is only initiated when you are willing to get honest with yourself and with God about your behavior, your attitudes, and the condition of every area of your life at this present moment. If you’re willing to remove the veil from your eyes and let the Holy Spirit really show you the areas where you need to be transformed, He will change you. And as this kind of transformation begins to work in you, you will become more and more prepared for upward movement and promotion in your life.”

Sanctification is not a one-time event—it’s a lifelong journey of surrender, growth, and transformation. As we daily yield to the truth of God's Word and the refining work of the Holy Spirit, we are continually shaped into vessels that reflect His image and carry His glory. This process calls for intentionality: choosing purity over compromise, discipline over indulgence, and obedience over convenience. But we don’t walk this road alone. God has given us everything we need—His Son, His Word, and His Spirit—to walk in holiness and fulfill our purpose.

May we commit, day by day, to live set apart lives that honor Him in body, soul, and spirit—for His glory and our good.

 Action steps you can take today:

👉 Ask Holy Spirit to show you: How can I glorify Jesus with my life today?  

👉 Ask yourself: What is one step I can take today to implement a healthier habit: either lifestyle, exercise, attitude, or nutrition?

Ready to live a life set apart—body, mind, and spirit?
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