Completely Dedicated to God

Scripture — 1 Thessalonians 5:23

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotion

Are you completely dedicated to God? I’m guessing that most readers of Life for Leaders will answer this question negatively. No matter how much we are committed to God, we all experience occasional resistance to God. I do at least. Though I’ve been a Christian for 59 years, and though I’ve lived with fairly consistent dedication to God, there are still parts of my life that I cling to as my own. There are times I want to live my way rather than God’s way. Perhaps you can relate.

The wish prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 gives hope to those of us who would like to be more fully dedicated to God. In the NRSV the first part of this verse reads, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely.” That’s an accurate translation of the Greek. But, for many of us, the language of sanctification can be somewhat off-putting. Apart from church or seminary, we don’t use the verb “to sanctify” or the noun “sanctification.” Thus, we may be unsure of what it means.

I find it helpful to think in terms of dedication when we come upon the biblical language of sanctification. To be sanctified is to be dedicated to God in heart, soul, mind, and strength. Dedication is something we understand more intuitively. Thus, the Common English Bible translates 1 Thessalonians 5:23 in this way, “Now, may the God of peace himself cause you to be completely dedicated to him.” I find this phrasing to be helpful. (You may recall that back in September I wrote a devotion called “The Case for Dedication” in which I explained in more detail why “dedication” is a helpful translation.)

The fact that Paul and his co-writers pray that God will cause the Thessalonians “to be completely dedicated to him” gives us hope because it implies that this quality of dedication to God is possible. We aren’t told whether full dedication to God could occur in this life or whether it is reserved for the life to come. But even if we believe that complete dedication will only happen after our mortal lives are over, there is still in 1 Thessalonians a strong assumption that we can in fact become more and more dedicated to God in this life. (See, for example, 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 4:3; 4:7.)

So, the wish prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 gives us hope. But it gives us something more as well. It reminds us that we cannot cause ourselves to be wholly dedicated to God. Our intentions and efforts do play a part in this process. But ultimate dedication – what theologians call sanctification – is something God does. God is the only one who can cause us to be completely dedicated to God.

Thus, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 encourages us to ask for this work of God in our lives. Yes, to be sure, we can make choices that will help us be more devoted to God. And we can say “no” to the things that lure our hearts away from the Lord. But, if we want to be more completely dedicated to God, our first move isn’t to try harder, but rather to pray. God, by grace, will indeed help us to be more dedicated to God and God’s kingdom if we ask.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: “Be Holy Because I Am Holy”.

Subscribe to Life for Leaders

Sign up to receive a Life for Leaders devotional each day in your inbox. It’s free to subscribe and you can unsubscribe at any time.