To be sanctified is to be made holy by being separated from the present age of the world. To love the world is to love to be modern. All the department stores display the modern articles of this age. We may think that we are holy, but we must ask whether or not the way we comb our hair or the way we dress ourselves is modern.

In order to be saved, we need to be separated unto God by being sanctified by the consummated Spirit through our cooperation by not being conformed to this age (Rom. 12:2a). All of us have a tendency to be modern. Therefore, we must cooperate with the Lord by not being conformed to this age. God has prepared and accomplished everything for us, but He still needs our cooperation. A hungry little child must cooperate with its mother at feeding time by opening up its mouth to receive the food. In order for us to be sanctified, we must cooperate by not being conformed to this age. We must hate any conformation to the modern age of this world.

Many times we do not have time for the things of the Lord because we give too much time to being modern. We may spend half an hour to comb our hair, when we could comb our hair in two minutes. In Shanghai some years ago, I told the sisters that they needed to spend time in the morning to study the Bible. Many replied that they were too busy and that they did not have enough time. But I discovered that many of the sisters spent much time in front of the mirror combing their hair. Having made this discovery, I asked them to reduce their time in front of the mirror to five minutes and to give more time to the study of the Bible in morning watch.

We must be sanctified from the present age of this world. I say this not because I want to remain ignorant of the world situation. Although I know the world situation and world history, I do not want to be modern or to be conformed to the modern age. Rather, I want to be transformed by the Spirit.

We are saved in the divine life by the sanctification of the consummated Spirit through our cooperation by presenting ourselves as slaves to God and our members as weapons to righteousness (Rom. 6:22b, 19b). To offer our bodies in a general way is not adequate. We have to offer our members particularly. We must offer our hands, eyes, feet, even every one of our members, as weapons to righteousness.