Sanctify:
1. To set apart for sacred use; consecrate.
2. To make holy; purify.
3. To give religious sanction to, as with an oath or vow: sanctify a marriage.
4. To give social or moral sanction to.
5. To make productive of holiness or spiritual blessing.
Sanctimonious:
Making a show of being morally superior to other people.
Those who follow Jesus Christ are set apart, sanctified, holy. We are different from others in many ways. However, none of us are entirely right in our understanding.
We do no great service to Christianity when we become sanctimonious. Quite the opposite. We are seen as hypocrites. Rightfully so!
In the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, the pharisee said in essence “look at me. I am righteous (and right) above all others.”
The tax collector said “forgive me, a sinner.”
“I am RIGHT and you are WRONG!” When we take this position on the understanding of scriptures, standing ready only to show how our knowledge and understanding is superior, we’ve become sanctimonious. We see that occasionally here. People who show up only to point out their perceived “errors” of what others believe. No blogs of their own, no biography or testimony, only sanctimonious responses to what others have written.
What does that approach do to build the kingdom?
I tend to just ignore them.
Rant over…
Shalom, Art
Alive in The Word
Reblogged this on Stevesaw's Blog and commented:
Great blog. Helpful thoughts. A good reminder about avoiding sanctimony.
Great post. I’m going to re blog this.
Art, I really love how you never take yourself too seriously. You only take God seriously, and even recognize that He has a wonderful sense of humour! Protect us always from sanctimonious tendencies, Dearest Lord Jesus!
God created the duck-billed platypus! Talk about a sense of humor. Even the “horse design” committee that ended up with the camel couldn’t do as well at humor.
Thank you…
Shalom
May we be set apart… only for Him.and His glory.
Amen.
Salvation of the human soul is among the greatest of God’s miracles. Even a saved man before he’s sanctifed is not sanctimonious in any manner. The heart is made holy in the new birth.
To be justified brings regeneration from the Holy Spirit and “all sin” is washed away. A regenerated man is thus eligible to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. To be justified is to be pardoned from every wrongful act you ever committed in life. To be sanctified has nothing to do with what man does whatsoever. Sanctification is the removal of inherited sin or the removal of the nature of man’s being that is inclined to selfishness. Sanctification is strictly the operation of God without human works, ie. purging, purifying work of the Baptism of hte Holy Spirit like on Pentecost.
Many people think sanctification is the process of man’s separation from worldly things but its not. Sanctification is the blessing of the work of the Holy Spirit that rids the justified believer from all carnality.
If a man is sanctimonius he is not even saved or washed in the blood of Christ. This individual is living in sin with an ego trip that leads straight to Hell’s Fire and Eternal Damnation. No philosophy, nor human concept, nor any type of human intelligence can comprehend the sacred truth of God’s sanctifying power that rids man of the fallen nature inherited from the sin of Adam.
Only the power and presence of a ressurected Christ can destroy such evil and restore man to a sanctified and holy life like Adam had before the Fall in the Garden. Glory! Christ can do it! God said so! It is written! Read it! That you body, soul, and Spirit be preserved blameless until the day of His coming. Faithful is He who will also do it! Do what? Sanctify you entire being! Holy and entire. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-25
A good word, and a good reminder to reflect Jesus and to keep the ‘monious’ out of sanctity. Thank you!