“Sanctified Wholly”
When the tide comes in, the ship doesn’t struggle—it rises. So it is with the soul lifted by grace.
Devotional Credit: Days of Heaven on Earth by A.B. Simpson
Photo Credit: Unsplash
A.B. Simpson paints a striking image today: a ship, long stranded and unmoved by the frantic labor of its crew, suddenly lifted and carried by a tidal wave—effortlessly, peacefully, gloriously free. This picture of release and movement is paralleled by the sun melting a great iceberg, not with force, but with warmth, transforming something immovable into something light and buoyant.
What is Simpson trying to tell us? That true sanctification—true transformation—is not the product of toil or strain. It is not a moral self-improvement project or the accumulation of religious effort. It is the result of a divine lift. Holiness isn’t manufactured by the soul’s striving, but appropriated through the indwelling peace and power of the Holy Spirit.
The emphasis isn’t on the crew pulling the ropes tighter or the engines revving harder, but on God Himself sanctifying us—spirit, soul, and body—as Paul prays in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Simpson calls us to ask ourselves: Have I experienced this divine way? Has my soul been carried by the tide of God’s sanctifying grace? If not, the invitation still stands.
✍️ Journal Reflection – In the Voice of the Holy Spirit
You are not the stranded ship you once saw yourself to be. I have already broken the chains that held you to the sandbar of self-effort. My sanctification does not demand your strength; it simply asks your consent. I lift, I carry, I melt what you thought was frozen in you forever.
You belong to Me entirely—spirit made alive and joined to Me, soul continually renewed by truth, and body held in My keeping. I have declared you blameless, and I will see to it that what I began in you I will complete.
When you believed, I made you new. But sanctification is not you climbing toward perfection; it is My life expressed through your yielded soul. I work in you to will and to do My good pleasure. I sanctify you wholly—not in part, not in segments—but in the seamless unity of your being now tethered to Mine.
So do not measure progress by feelings or failures. I have already lifted you into the current of My peace. Walk as one who has been made clean, not one trying to be. The tides of grace are under you, and you are floating—not striving—in Me.
1 Thessalonians 5:23; Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:11; Hebrews 10:14; Galatians 2:20
🌿 Real Life Analogy
Imagine you've tried for hours to open a tightly sealed jar. Your hands ache, your towel-wrapped grip slips, your muscles tire. Then a friend casually walks over, taps the lid once against the counter, and with ease, opens it. It's not that you were weak—it's that you were using the wrong method. In the same way, we often strain to live holy lives through sheer willpower, when what’s needed is a change in source. Holiness is not a moral lid we must force open—it’s the life of Christ already within us, waiting to be expressed without effort when we yield.
🙏 Prayer of Confident Trust
Father, I rejoice today that You are the God of peace who sanctifies completely. I trust that You have already set me apart in spirit, and are daily working in my soul and body to conform me into the image of Christ. I no longer wrestle to be holy; I yield to the holiness You have already given me in Christ. Thank You for lifting me above the sandbars of effort, for making me light with Your presence, and for keeping me until the return of Jesus. I rest in Your sufficiency. I walk in Your peace.