In our fleshly reactions, we will contaminate our hearts as well as those around us. Consider difficult people as sandpaper, or a sculptor’s chisel. The Lord uses adversity to conform us to His image. 

The famous sculptor Michelangelo said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” So it is with us! The Lord sees us as righteous. We will stand before Him faultless. 

Our sanctification is progressive. We live in a contaminated world. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t be conformed to this world…” 1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world…”

Jesus prayed in John 17:15, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” Satan’s most powerful weapon is deceit. The pure in heart will see God. Matthew 5:8. That means that we will be sensitive to what the Lord is doing around us so we can join Him.