ROOTED - Monday, July 7, 2025

Ephesians 4:24
24 …and to clothe yourself with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Reflection: Question #30, Part 1 (a song)
Written By: Pastor Jesse Caro 
Question: What is sanctification?
Answer: Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace through which we are renewed in our entire person after the image of God, and we are enabled to die to sin and live righteously.
There was the old commercial from the 90’s with the catchy ditty, “I wanna be like Mike!” Do you remember that? It was a Gatorade commercial from the absolute “golden age” of professional basketball, when the greatest player to ever play, played: Michael Jordan. Never will there be a better player, better rivalries, better basketball in general than basketball in the early 1990’s. And perhaps this Gatorade commercial should rank in the top ten sponsorship commercials of all time. Look it up if you have no idea what I am talking about.
Sometimes I dream that he is me. You’ve got to see that’s how I dream to be. I dream I move. I dream I groove... like Mike. If I could be like Mike! I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be, like Mike. Like Mike! If I could be like Mike!
I love it. So nostalgic! They don’t make commercials like that anymore. I just listened to it on YouTube for the first time in decades, and I remembered it verbatim. A classic.
What is sanctification? What else but the process by which we become like Christ! If I could be like Christ! I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be, like Christ. That is sanctification in a nutshell. According to Ephesians, we should desire to put on the likeness of God like new clothes. WE should desire to become like Jesus. Be like Christ! 

Prayer 
Lord, we do want to be like you, righteous and holy. We need your help, today, to be all that you have called us to be.