The Test of Sanctified Appetite
By Francis M. Wilcox
Much is said to-day of complete sanctification. Is this a possible experience with the child of God? It certainly must be, else the apostle would not have prayed that the children of God might be sanctified wholly. The Lord, to-day, as in all ages, desires the whole man sanctified to his service,—his actions, his thoughts, his motives, his purposes, his appetites and passions, all under the control and influence of the Spirit of God. As divine power takes away the love of the world, the pride of life, and selfish thoughts and purposes, so the same power will take away the thirst for strong drink and the love of those things that are debasing to the soul and destructive to the temple of God. As it is right and proper for one to give his sins to God to be buried in the depths of the sea, so it is as truly proper that he should give to God his appetites, to be changed and brought back into harmony with right principles. But what is the standard of this desired condition? What is the test of sanctified appetite? It can be nothing less than the Word of divine revelation. We know that in all ages God has spoken to his church by the mouth of his apostles and prophets. The truth of this revelation lies, of necessity, at the very foundation of Christian experience, of hope and faith. To deny this is to deny the foundation of God, and to despise the agencies through whom God has established his work in the earth. This being so, this revelation of God, then, of necessity, must become the divine standard, the test of every act of man. The conformity or nonconformity of man to this divine standard indicates the relation in which he stands to God and to the truth of God. Some, however, upon this point are in danger of making shipwreck of their faith and experience. They feel that the spirit of divine revelation which has come to them individually, as they believe, becomes the gauge of their course of action, instead of this revelation of the Lord through his apostles and prophets. Well and good; let us not dispute this claim, provided the spirit of individual revelation leads in harmony with the recognized revelation of the Lord. But if it leads contrary to the revelation of the Lord through his chosen instruments, let us fear that it rises from another spirit than that which prompted the Word of the Lord. God cannot deny himself. It is too much to believe that through his prophet he would teach one principle and in individual experience teach an opposing principle. For instance, God and his Word teach the observance of the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. That same spirit could never teach in individual experience that the first day of the week was the Sabbath of the Lord. The Lord, through his apostles and prophets, in dealing with the principles of healthful living, has taught that certain things are to be discarded as articles of diet, that other kinds of food are best and good. He cannot teach contrary to this in individual experience. To do this is to deny himself. Hence it should ever be borne in mind that the test of sanctified appetite is not an exercise of the mind, the desires of the flesh, nor any human standard. It is a “Thus saith the Lord.” The good and the bad in healthful living occupy two distinct fields. In the field of good we may roam at will. Studying the principles and determining their application to our particular need, we may eat the fat and drink the sweet, and rejoice in the goodness of God which makes us the partakers of his bounties. Here, in the exercise of our God-given privileges and rights, we may know that we are in accord with the divine requirements, and in harmony with God. But if our feet are led to wander into the forbidden field of evil, and we find ourselves longing after those things forbidden of the Lord, we may know that however much we may profess to be of Israel, and although we may be physically out of Egypt, we are still spiritually in Egyptian servitude, still longing after those forbidden meats and harmful indulgences which marked our old-time bondage. The true liberty of the child of God is found in obedience. True sanctification is found in conformity to the divine standard. The man who the most truly walks at liberty will the most faithfully follow the requirements of the Lord, not of constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; not from sense of duty, but from joy of privilege. So also the man who is the most truly sanctified will be the one whose life most nearly conforms to the requirements of the Lord, and whose appetites and passions and impulses are the most directly controlled by the same Spirit which gave to men the words of life, and brings their lives into conformity to the life of God.