Prove God’s Perfect Will – Our Sanctification

The term translated as “prove” in the secular sense carried the idea of testing metals. They proved the metals to show they were genuine. Now how are we to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”? How are we to show the genuineness of that “good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”? How are we to show that this is real? Paul states that it is done by being “transformed by the renewing” of our minds. The proving is done by our transformation. As we are transformed, as we are changed, we show to this world what is God’s good, and acceptable, and perfect will for all.

The call to be salt and light and the warning to be careful to ensure that our salt does not lose its savouring or our light to be hidden is rooted in the call to be sanctified.
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel… (Matthew 5:13–15a)
If we are going to “…prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”, and testify to this world the manifold riches of Christ; then, we must commit to the process of sanctification, the transformation that comes from the renewing of our minds. But questions arise as to its process, “Who makes us holy? How are we to become holy? Why do we need to be holy?”

In our Lord’s high priestly prayer found in John 17, our Lord answers the questions surrounding the work of sanctification.