ROOTED - Tuesday, July 8, 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 2 (an analogy)
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.

Imagine that you went to a wedding. Everyone is seated and the guests wait, with bated breath, for the reveal of the bride in all her splendor. The time has come, the double doors open, and there she is! The groom, along with all the guests, gasp as they notice her white dress. It appears that she has been wrestling in the mud. The bridal gown appears un-ironed, disheveled, stained, muddy, and a bit frayed. People think, “What happened? What did she get into?” As she walks down the aisle, she seems oblivious to the fact that the dress is a shambles. The groom, on the other hand, is prepared… tuxedo perfectly fitting, starched and pressed, and his face cleanly shaven. He appears to be the perfect groom. 

Dear friend, know this: one day we will meet Jesus face to face. He is the Groom, and we are the bride. Some of us live a life so stained with sin that we too will enter the presence of God unkept, disheveled, and stained with the sin of the world… showing up to the Great Wedding embarrassed, wishing we had lived a pure life in Christ. What a sad day that will be as we dishonor the Groom with how we lived. Sanctification is a clean wedding gown.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help us to be clean and unstained by the world, honoring you with our lives until the day you take us home.