January 12

But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth. — 2 Thess 2:13 BSB

There is not only the imputation of righteousness but also the impartation of it. This impartation is the communication of a divine nature to the soul. Do I have any holiness in myself? Not a single grain. Can all the people in the world, with all their combined efforts, produce even one speck of spiritual holiness in their hearts? Not one atom, no matter how hard they try. If all the preachers in the world united to try and create even one grain of holiness in a person’s soul, they would strive forever in vain—they would have as much success creating holiness as they would in trying to create a lump of gold by preaching.

But because Jesus is made to His people as their sanctification by a gracious act of God the Father, He imparts His own holiness to them. He works in them to desire and to act according to His good pleasure. He sends the Holy Spirit to stir up holy desires within them. In short, He gives them a nature that is truly holy, one that loves holiness and has communion with a holy God. This heavenly, spiritual, and divine nature thrives in eternal things as its natural element and delights in spiritual things as sweet and precious. It may be small in measure, and the one who possesses it may often feel troubled by how little they have, but they have enough to know what it is.

Has not your soul, though defiled and aware of your sinful nature, at times felt a measure of holiness toward God? Even though iniquity may still rear its head and every impurity of the flesh seems to stain your mind, have you not, at times, felt a longing for God? Have you never experienced a deep desire to be close to Him, pure affection, a single-minded purpose, and a heart that yearns to have the likeness of Jesus imprinted on it? This is the kind of holiness that the Lord of life and glory imparts to His poor and needy people from the fullness of His grace.