Sanctification and Grace
After salvation the
hard work doesn’t end. It is just beginning. One of the realities that
shocked me personally was that my spiritual rebirth didn’t fix me. I
still had the same character flaws, bad habits, temptations, and
short-comings. I’ve had a week where I was forced to look at some of my
more serious flaws, repent, and seek spiritual guidance on what to do
about them.
There is a special kind of sanctifying grace that is
God’s unique gift to each one of us as we become perfected. I receive it
in equal measure to my willingness to see my own imperfections.
God sees our
righteousness through Jesus on the cross. If we think we do, we’re
dangerously deceived.
In Romans 8:12-17 Paul describes sanctification like
this:
So don’t
you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent?
There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at
all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with
your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places
to go!
This resurrection life you received from God is
not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting
God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our
spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know
who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s
coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what
Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then
we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!
(The Message)
I thought once I accepted
Jesus Christ as my Savior, everything would get easier. No more sin, no
backsliding, and no more blundering around in my own life. It’s one
thing to say that hypothetically I was made new and perfected in my
salvation moment. But it’s really just the beginning of a life-long
process that matures us into authentic Christians.
We cannot ride on Jesus’ coat tails. We must learn to
walk in His footsteps. We cannot just gaze lovingly at his face; we must
change to be like him.
To live a life infused with Sanctifying Grace is an
amazing experience. It doesn't happen all at once; it grows over time
and with practice.
I am currently learning that
love is both the place where grace begins and ends. When I want to give
up because someone isn’t loving me back, lies about me, or hurts me over
and over and over, and I am forced to forgive them over and over and
over, grace whispers in my ear, "Keep going. I kept going for you."
There are still times when I
completely miss the mark, like this week. That’s when the Holy Spirit
reaches over and holds my hand (usually in the form of my husband) and
says, "I love you.
I see your imperfections and they do not
lessen my love even a little. Nothing you do or say will change my love
for you. Now let’s talk about how you can use this uncomfortable
experience to grow in the likeness of Jesus."
As the years go by, it has
become clearer and clearer to me that the work of sanctification is
never over, it just goes deeper, always searching for new places that
need to be matured.
My part, our part in the process is to
humbly kneel before Him, confess our imperfections, and let the Holy
Spirit reveal what to do next.
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