Today let's talk about how to know if you have made it. How to know if you are sanctified or if you have achieved holiness. This is a tough question to answer and can even be a dangerous one; tough because there are so many aspects of the holy life to consider that we can not be totally sure that we are answering all of them. It can be a dangerous question to answer because it is a tough level to achieve and relatively few people attain it; and if you claim it, you had better live it. Claiming it and not living it makes you a hypocrite which damages the Church more than anything else.
Holiness is attainable. Very few actually attain it, but it can be done. Let me clear up something. Holiness is not cause for spiritual arrogance. In fact, spiritual arrogance is a sign that one is not holy. Achieving it does not make one a ‘first-class’ Christian and not achieving it does not make one ‘second-class.’ I had the honor recently to participate in an Eagle Scout ceremony for a teen in my congregation. I realized something there; even though Eagle is the ultimate goal of every Boy Scout and it is achievable, very few actually make it. A lot of very good Scouts do not make Eagle for whatever reason. Now, holiness is not exactly like Eagle Scout, but it is similar in that there are a lot of very good Christians that do not achieve it for whatever reason. Also similar to the Eagle Scout; it is not the award at the end that makes the person what they are; it is what they went through in the pursuit of it that makes them who they are.
So what do you need to know to know if you are holy? To the best of my knowledge there are seven questions to answer before answering the big question. I can not promise that answering yes to all of these guarantees that you are holy, but I can say with certainty that if you answer no to any one of these then you have not achieved it. I will call these evidences. I will cover one maybe two per week.
The evidences of a holy life begin with a question, “Has the believer made a total consecration to Christ? A total one?” Keith Drury asks, “Was there a time when you settled, once and for all, the question of who would be boss in your life?”[1] It is simple really; if God will only sanctify one whom has given everything to Him then one absolutely has to be able to honestly answer yes to this question before they can hope to be sanctified. So, let’s start with this question as to save time answering the rest of them. This has to come first, that the believer determines that they hold nothing back from God.
This sounds like an elementary question. You may respond to this with, “Isn’t that what I did the day I asked the Lord into my heart?” I would answer, probably not. Let’s think of it like your house; when you got saved you asked Jesus over to your house for coffee. Let’s say that when He arrived Jesus helped you cleaned up your living room where you wanted to have coffee with Him. It was clean and you knew He would be happy and impressed with it. You invite Him to take a break and have a drink, but all He wants to do is move on to the next room. You try to convince Him otherwise but He moves on anyway. From room to room you follow Jesus, totally embarrassed at the mess He finds in each room, but He lovingly helps you clean each one. Just when you think He would be satisfied and take that break He moves upstairs. Now you are getting upset and worried. Finally you come to one last closet. What is in that closet is the very last vestige of your former life. It is who you had always been until this visitor came and cleaned up your entire house, well almost your entire house. You beg Him, “Please can’t we just leave this one alone, go downstairs, and have the coffee now?” But instead He waits while you hide inside the closet not wanting to give up what is inside and embarrassed for Him to see it. He waits and He waits. He does not force this one on you. You have to make this decision. After a long wait, when you’re sure He has given up on you and left, you open the door to find Him still standing there with a loving smile on His face, just waiting for you to give the last little bit of yourself to Him.[2] At that moment you stand at the point of difference between salvation and holiness. “Do I give it all to Him, or hold on to this last little bit?” If you say no then He will not sanctify you yet. You have just counted yourself out of the possibility.
So today’s evidence, “Have you given it all, and I mean all, to God?” Talk to me; david.pastorrock1@gmail.com

[1] Keith Drury, Holiness for Ordinary People, Wesleyan Publishing House, 1983, pg. 115

[2] ‘House’ illustration also based on Drury’s book, Holiness for Ordinary People