What a journey these past two months have been!
From candidate orientation & training to leadership changes to summer schedule, Walter and I haven't had much time to do anything but what is on the calendar one day at a time!
Today I want to do some writing. It's a shame when the whole summer has whizzed by and I haven't enjoyed much down time. So here are some thoughts to get my creative writing juices flowing...
I've been listening to the late Charles Stanley's podcasts as archived online. This morning I enjoyed parts 1 and 2 of "Sanctification: The Process" as recorded in sermon form. Such a good reminder of what I've learned years ago but needed a refresher!
Sanctification: the process of change, transformation into something holy and set apart for sacred purpose
1. FAITH - How does this process start? Becoming holy and set apart for God's use begins with becoming born again, giving our lives to Jesus Christ and starting the spiritual journey. As the Apostle Paul expressed it to the Corinthian church, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV) The very exact moment we become a follower of Christ, the old nature no longer rules and the new nature takes over. That is a positional reality, an identity change! We acquire a new name, a new family and a new future by faith in Jesus Christ.
2. LIFELONG TRANSFORMATION - The next steps are a lifelong process of gradual transformation. We are being sanctified daily and it continues for our entire earthly existence. Even though our old nature is not in charge any more, it still has influence and can be influenced by the world and by the devil. So the progress we make in sanctification must be influenced by something/someone even greater than our own flesh, our old nature and its tendency to allow peer pressure and the devil's lies to impact us.
Something Charles Stanley included in his sermon was the fact that it is God's will that we undergo this sanctification process. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification..." God doesn't want us to be saved only, but to become more like His Son, Jesus. He isn't willing that we stay the same, living in addictions, bondage, fear, sinful ways. He wants us to live abundantly and joyfully. "The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy. I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) Jesus came to reverse the devil's plans and schemes against humanity. He came to give life, to restore what Satan stole and to rebuild. But all that process of sanctification comes with some effort on our part, as well.
To continue what Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour..For God has not called us for impurity but in holiness." (1 Thessalonians 4:3,4 & 7) Our part is to abstain from immoral and impure activities. Our part is to use self-control over our bodies - which also means controlling our thoughts, words and attitudes. One of the evidences or abilities that the Holy Spirit gives us once we are Christians is self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Another way of defining or explaining sanctification is the work of letting the Holy Spirit clean out our old nature and bring in the new nature. That is the only way we can overcome sinful and unholy ways - by the Holy Spirit replacing them with His character and holiness.
3. DEATH - This may seem morbid but the reality is that we will never attain perfection until we have died. While in our earthly bodies and functioning with our earthly minds, we are always in the process of sanctification. But, when we experience death and then the promised and glorious resurrection, we will be absolutely pure and holy and complete. 1 John 3:2&3 was written to believers of the early church who were struggling with sanctification and with being persecuted for being Christ-followers. Here is what the Apostle John had to say: "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure." For now, we don't know what we will become and cannot be made whole and holy on this side. But when we see Jesus face to face - whether we are taken up when He returns or must go through death and be raised up on resurrection day - then we will be perfect as He is.
The hope of seeing Jesus our Lord and being completely relieved of our earthly bodies and the struggles that we constantly battle in the flesh, motivates us to purify ourselves. Do we want to see Jesus covered in our filth and caught in sin when He comes? Or to die in shameful ways that we had a choice to avoid? As Jesus spoke a parable to His disciples about the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, we all are to be ready for the Bridegroom's arrival. We don't know when He will return to take us home; we also don't know when our days on earth will be over. So having our spiritual lamps full of oil can be symbolized by our lives being filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit!
How awesome that we will one day be transformed into the person God had intended us to be! Although I don't look forward to death, I know it will be worth going through in order to experience the complete work of sanctification. A verse that has helped me through some very exasperating times is Philippians 1:6 "...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." That is my ultimate hope and motivation to persevere: God WILL finish the good work He started in me.
HAVE A GOOD DAY, MY FRIENDS! God's not finished with you yet!
