Sanctify the Lord God

Today I read Ezekiel 27:8-29:8 and 1 Peter 3:7-4:5. My favorite verses are:

Ezekiel 28:25-26 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. 26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

In both these verses, God tells us to sanctify Him. The meaning of sanctify is to set apart for a holy purpose. God promised the children of Israel that when they sanctified Him, He would provide a safe dwelling place for them in their homeland. He also promised to judge those who had despised His children. In the verse from 1 Peter, He commands all of us to sanctify Him in our hearts and be ready to tell anyone who asks why we have hope. Because of Christ dwelling in us, we know that we have the answer to all problems that we face. We can share that hope with others by sharing the Christ who is sanctified in our hearts. We have given Him a special place and a special reverence knowing that He is the only one who can make us dwell safely in a world full of evil. The majority of people in this world want God to be set aside rather than set apart. We can be living examples who show the result of having the Lord God sanctified in our hearts.