It is about authenticity

NORSK
I have never doubted that love promotes authenticity; simply because we are created in God's image, and God is love:

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:8

Sanctification is to come back to the original, back to the real image of God. In Christ, God has loved us back to the authentic image. This is illustrated in a wonderful way in children's story: “The Velveteen Rabbit” (1). For me, this little story represented a hole in my general education until a week ago, when my niece, Beathe, shared the following section on FB. A couple of days back it reappeared as the daily devotion in "Words of Life" (2). "Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

I think this is good way of illustrating what sanctification is all about. I am loved by God back into authenticity, an authenticity which is beautiful for those who understand.

It takes a real person to spot one. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, I am sure he saw something beautiful, because he said:

“Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!”
John 1:47 GNT

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about authenticity

---------------------------------
(1) Margery Williams: “The Velveteen Rabbit” 1922
(2) Beth Ivany: “Words of life”