No man is always himself, but God is always Himself! With God it is as the apostle John says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5).

I Thessalonians 5:23-24 is Paul’s prayer of Paul’s in which he makes a request to God for God’s people. It contains great encouragement for us:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Paul requests their complete sanctification and preservation as holy until they die or God finishes His activities on behalf of the church at Christ’s coming.

Sanctification is the part of salvation that deals with our progressive growth in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ—or put another way, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ—or in yet another way, into God’s image. God is faithful in carrying out His part in the building of Christian character. God’s faithfulness guarantees the progressive perfection of a Christian’s life. He is not like men who begin a project, lose interest, run into difficulties, consider it too hard to overcome or become impatient and quit. He does not begin a work and then get disgusted with it and turn to something else. He does not begin and, finding He lacks the resources to finish, give up. Men do this, but God never stops until He is finished. He does not finish until He is satisfied.

From sections of “The Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness”

by John W. Ritenbaugh