"...because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth." (2 Thessalonians 2:13)
God is a farmer. He plants us---seeds. Each seed God plants has within it the image of the Divine. Just like an acorn becomes an oak tree due to what's inside it, we are destined to become as God dreamed for humanity----Jesus----the image of humanity infused with the divine. The first fruits for salvation. The harvest.
Sound impossible? It is. Without God's initiative, without God's inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For by the Holy Spirit we are sanctified. First, through Creation; second, through Baptism; third, through Sacraments (what Thomas Aquinas called a "Spirit-infusion system"); fourth, through a life of service---being turned outward like Jesus; fifth, through community---being rubbed to smoothness by our neighbors and companions; sixth, through prayer---the windows of grace when we open ourselves and make ourselves vulnerable to the transforming power of God; and so on and on and on and on.
God provides so many vehicles and opportunities for sanctification---being made holy. Let's soak up the holiness set before us so that we may be changed within. This is how we truly worship God----living lives that glorify God.
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