Sanctified in Truth

Reflect and pray

The sermon closed with a question: what can we do to grow our faith? The answer was not a technique but a Person encountered through ordinary means. Jesus prays, 'Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.' The Word of God is not merely information about God; it is the means by which God shapes us. When we read, hear, sing, and taste the Scriptures in the gathered life of the church, we are not performing religious duties. We are opening ourselves to the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

This is why the preacher called them ordinary means of grace. They are ordinary because any church can do them. Any believer can open a Bible. Any congregation can pray, baptize, break bread, and proclaim the gospel. Yet these ordinary acts carry extraordinary power because Christ has promised to meet His people there. The disciples failed because they assumed past success meant present autonomy. The ordinary means pull us back from that delusion. They re-tether us to Christ week by week, day by day.

Saturday is a good day to prepare for the Lord's Day. Not with anxiety, but with anticipation. What if you approached tomorrow's gathering not as a consumer but as a branch preparing to receive sap? What if you opened your Bible today not to solve a problem but to meet the One who is the Answer? Faith grows not by striving but by feeding. The same Spirit who inspired the Word uses the Word to strengthen your faith. Sit with Him today. Let the truth do its slow, sure work of making you more like Jesus.