No
Other Foundation
Book 2
Needful Truths for
Children of Light
Chapter Five
Defining the Sanctifying Process
The
Contents Of This Chapter
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Though born
sinners, we don’t always sin. Though predisposed to
self-centeredness, we aren’t always selfish. There are times when
we love others as we want to be loved. There are times when we
sacrifice our interests to please or serve another. There are times
when we do what is right even though it means standing alone or being
heckled. However, spasmodic or intermittent goodness is neither noteworthy nor
commendable. Yet everyone does it, including the worst of sinners.
A more difficult accomplishment is goodness in several specific areas
so as to consistently do what is right in those areas (i.e., marital
fidelity, responsible work ethic, keeping one’s word, honesty
about oneself, being racially unbiased, being even-tempered, being considerate of
others, never using profanity, never gossiping). Yet as difficult as
this is, there are those who practice this level of goodness.
However, whether Christian or non-Christian, those who practice this
level of goodness are little better than those who occasionally do what
is right. And why is this the case? Because they are driven more by the
fear of getting into trouble and the desire for approval and acceptance
than by a loving concern for the good of everyone affected in some way
by their choices and behavior. In other words, they are more concerned
about their own interests than the interests of others. The truth of
this is evidenced in two primary ways. First, they predominantly decide
what to do on a “benefit vs. cost to self” basis. If the
benefits outweigh the costs, they will most likely do it – be it
something they know is right or something they know is wrong. Second,
they follow their feelings more than God’s Word. The sins they
abhor (i.e., rape, adultery, cursing, and for the sensitive –
anger) they tenaciously avoid. The sins they adore (i.e., software
piracy, cheating on taxes, workaholism to the neglect of the family,
controlling others to their hurt and the hurt of the relationship,
nagging) they avidly practice. In other words, they do what is right
for the same reason they do what is wrong - it seems to serve their own
interests. Therefore, though this level of goodness is harder to
achieve than sporadic goodness, it is not much better.
Way out ahead of these two accomplishments is what seems to most of us
as the impossible dream – consistently doing what we know is
right in every area of life where we know the right thing to do, for
the rest of our lives. This is whole-life, life-long goodness.
Consistent goodness over a sustained period of time in every area where
we know what is right, is difficult. First, there is the challenge of
being honest about ourselves so that we willingly face
the truth, in very specific ways, about the sin still needing to be put
out of our life. Next, there is the battle to overcome our pride and be
humble – humble enough to listen to criticism, admit our sin,
make things right with those we’ve sinned against, and pursue
change. Third, there is the agony of staggering and struggling until
old habits and thought patterns are crushed and we have put new habits
and thought patterns in their place. Then, there is the discouragement
of two steps forward and three steps backward, or three steps forward
and one step backward until our forward motion is so consistent that
the slight backward step on rare occasions is hardly noticed. Fifth,
there is the exhausting tug-of-war between wanting to do what is right
and being sorely tempted to do what is wrong. In addition, there is the
hard work of disciplining ourselves to get up each day and prepare so
that we go into our day ready to do battle against temptation, wrong
thinking, and the desire to give up – for whatever reason.
Finally, after traveling this path for a while, the realization begins
to creep into our minds that the aforementioned difficulties
aren’t likely to end in this life. In fact, growth in
righteousness becomes a light that exposes more darkness which requires
staying on this path longer if change is to come in these newly exposed
areas. Such are the things which make the pursuit of whole-life,
life-long godliness a lot more difficult than most of us would have
ever imagined at the start of this path.
So, how do people do it? What makes the difference between occasional
or selective goodness and whole-life, life-long godliness? To this
question there is only one answer, and the answer is: God.
To pursue whole-life, life-long godliness we must have God’s help
in all its varied forms. We must place ourselves in His hands and
depend on Him to fulfill His intentions for us. And what are
God’s intentions for us? He intends for us to be freed from the
binding chains and influential power of sin. He intends for us to be
fully equipped and empowered (with His provisions and power) so we can
become all that He saved us to be. He intends for us to be separated
from everything that is selfish and sinful, and devoted to everything
that is loving and holy. He intends for us to come into His family as
sons and daughters who are eager to share a relationship of mutual
communion and companionship with Him. He intends for us to become
spiritually mature and genuinely useful so He can work through us in
accomplishing His purposes in our world. And without a doubt, He
intends for us to be found blameless at the second coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. In other words, He intends for us to be sanctified, and
He intends to do this for us Himself. (Note: Titus 2:11-14, I
Thessalonians 5:23-24)
This
word “sanctify” is made up of a root word which is
found in several other words used throughout the Old and New Testament.
These words are:
| Holy |
Hallow |
Consecrate |
Sanctify |
| Holiness |
Hallowed |
Saint |
Sanctification |
The original
meaning of the word sanctify speaks of the act of setting something or
someone apart from its/his normal use in order that it/he might belong
to only one person and be for that person’s exclusive use. The
Bible’s use of the word sanctify follows this theme. God
sanctifies us by setting us apart from a life of self-centeredness and
sin, reconciling us to Himself, and instructing us in the ways of
holiness and love to the extent that we voluntarily and cheerfully give
ourselves to doing His will.
In other words, God saves us from sin and then works with and in us
– taking us through a process of change until we become the
loving and wise being He first created us and then saved us to be.
Through this process we are consecrated to God, that is, set apart for
fellowship with Him and use by Him. Through this process we become
deeply involved in a relationship of intimate communion and
companionship with our loving Father. Through this process, supreme
love of God and love for others becomes our ruling principle and
driving motive. Through this process, lasting relationships built on
mutual love and trust become a highly valued treasure. Through this
process we are prepared and empowered for useful service to God so He
can fulfill His purposes in our world through us.
Therefore, sanctification is God’s process of taking us from a
life of self-centeredness to a life of love, while we yet live on this
earth. It is a process which prepares us for an eternity of
relationships built on mutual love and trust with God and all who love
as He loves. And it is a progressive process limited only by time,
energy, and our willingness to cooperate with God.
Sanctification is
not synonymous with biblical or theological knowledge. Yet many church
attenders think that if they can properly define sanctification, it is
proof they are being sanctified. They assume that if they can
intelligently discuss holiness, they must be well on the way to being
holy. In other words, they consider themselves good Christians because
they have an intellectual or scholarly grasp of Bible knowledge and
theology. Such thinking is not only off the mark, it is deliberately
self-serving.
We don’t exonerate criminal activity committed by criminals who
can intelligently discuss the definitions and nuances of right and
wrong related to their criminal activity. We don’t find happiness
in a friend’s or spouse’s mistreatment of us just because
they have a good grasp of how they ought to treat us. In fact we would
say that the knowledgeable criminal, friend, or spouse is doubly wrong
in that they did wrong knowing what was right. And there is more.
Because they know what is right, we feel justified in judging them more
harshly than we would judge someone who did wrong ignorantly.
Yet in Christianity, many accept this axiom (right knowledge is as good
as right behavior) as if it were an eternal truth. And those who
believe this are easily identified. They are well versed on such issues
as the sovereignty of God, the free will of man, eternal security,
salvation by grace, the return of Christ, and the filling or gifts of
the Holy Spirit. Yet at the same time, they hardly discuss and rarely
consider their own involvement in such issues as greed, hoarding,
excessive consumerism, the abuse of power in the home or on the job,
mediocre parenting, workaholism, unforgiveness, stirring up strife in
the Church, gossip, bigotry, unjust or dishonest business practices,
and small indiscretions. Though they know the deeper biblical and
theological truths, those closest to them (spouse, children, extended
family members, co-workers) don’t see much of the Christ-like
life.
This is not what God intends, nor is it what He condones. The purpose
of sanctification is to change us, not inform us. God uses knowledge as
part of the process, but His goal is to conform us to the likeness of
Jesus.
Sanctification does not change our physical or mental make-up. Though
we will receive glorified bodies when we pass from this world into
God’s heavenly kingdom, we have the mind and body we were born
with until then. Thankfully, the mind and body God gave us at birth
comes equipped with everything necessary to love Him above all others,
and to love others as ourselves. Therefore, God redeems our mind and
body so they can be sanctified. Through the sanctification process, He
works on our thoughts so we think on good things instead of
self-centered and vile things. He works on our choices so we stop using
our bodies and our time for selfish and senseless things, and start
using them for doing good. He brings us to the place where we use our
minds and bodies to live as He says and to serve Him as He wills.
Therefore, the process of sanctification brings about a dramatic change
in the use but not the make-up of our mind and body.
Sanctification does not eliminate our personality or natural character
traits. Instead, God wants to redeem them and purify them so that in
every way we can grow to Christian maturity and become all that He
saved us to be. Generally speaking, shy people find it difficult to
talk to strangers or anyone else who makes them feel uncomfortable or
insecure. If a shy person submits to God’s sanctifying process,
God will help him overcome his fears and give him enough boldness to
get involved with people who need to be evangelized, discipled,
confronted, counseled, or consoled. Aggressive people tend to take
charge and get things done, but they can be insensitive and controlling
in their treatment of others. If an aggressive person submits to
God’s sanctifying process, God will teach him the importance of
inviting others to do something rather than forcing them, and how to be
sensitive toward others. People who are easygoing are fun to be with,
but they tend to be lax in fulfilling commitments and careless in the
use of other people’s possessions. If an easygoing person submits
to God’s sanctifying process, God will expose his careless
approach and teach him the way of love – love which keeps its
word and protects the interests of others. In other words, God wants to
sanctify our personality and character traits, not eliminate them. As
we submit to and cooperate with His sanctifying process, our
personality and natural character traits are transformed so that in
this way, too, we are conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.
Sanctification does not eliminate our natural desires and feelings. God
created us with an appetite for food, the desire to feel loved and
secure, and a concern for our own well-being. He created us with the
ability to feel joy, happiness, excitement, fulfillment, and pleasure,
as well as sadness, disappointment, anger, fear, and pain. These
natural desires and feelings have no moral character in themselves.
They are neither good nor bad. Their purpose is to enhance our lives.
Consider this. Our appetite for food seeks food for the sake of
satisfying our hunger. However, this appetite has nothing to do with
seeking food for the pleasure of eating or to dull the pain of
rejection and loneliness. Our appetite for food is just that, an
appetite. It is not responsible for controlling our eating habits. Our
intellect has that responsibility. Therefore, God wants to
sanctify our mind, our thoughts, our beliefs, our attitudes, and our
motives. Then, our sanctified intellect can rightly deal with our
appetite so that we eat according to some sane sense of nutritional
need, not self-gratification.
Feelings like pleasure and pain, satisfaction and disappointment, add a
dimension to the experiences of life that captivates our attention and
gets us personally involved in whomever or whatever is causing the
feelings. Yet feelings themselves do not understand that sadness over
the loss of a special relationship or loved one is normal while hatred
and depression are destructive. Feelings know nothing about the
harmful effects of illegal drugs, sex outside the marriage
relationship, or the accumulation and selfish squandering of wealth.
Feelings have no idea that certain pleasure-producing activities can
become obsessions which replace God as the most important thing in our
lives. Our intellect is responsible for such things. Therefore, God
wants to sanctify our mind, our thoughts, our beliefs, our attitudes,
and our motives. Then, we can experience our full range of feelings
without going outside the boundaries of love – love which
promotes and protects the good of everyone.
Anger and fear warn us that something is wrong, yet they have no
ability to select a response. Our intellect is responsible for
selecting responses to the things we fear or feel angry over. If we
select responses that are excessive, aggressive, selfishly protective,
and irrational, it is not the fault of our feelings. We, through the
use of our intellect, have made the decision. Therefore, God wants to
sanctify our mind, our thoughts, our beliefs, our attitudes, and our
motives. Then our response to anger or fear won’t compromise the
good of anyone who is in any way affected by our response.
God created us with natural desires and feelings for our benefit. When
we submit to His sanctifying work, God does not require us to condemn
or forsake the desires and feelings He gave us. What He asks us to do
is cooperate with His sanctifying process so that with our renewed mind
we will use our natural desires and feelings for the good of everyone
affected in any way by our choices and behavior – God, others,
and ourselves.
Sanctification does not eliminate our natural affections. Natural
affections are those special feelings of comfort, closeness,
appreciation, or esteem we have for certain people. It is natural that
some people are more pleasing to us than others. We naturally feel a
closeness to our family and friends which we do not feel with many of
our neighbors or co-workers. We naturally feel endeared to those who
treat us in respectful, kind, sensitive, and caring ways. We appreciate and
even esteem those who live according to the values we embrace. In
contrast, we feel repulsed by or estranged from those who mistreat us
or generally behave in gross and immoral ways. Such feelings are the
result of our natural affections.
Sanctification does not eliminate our natural irritations. It is
natural to feel upset, and even angry, when we see a husband abusing
his wife or a mother neglecting her children. We naturally feel
disturbed when children carelessly destroy property or ridicule a
disabled child. It is natural to feel angry when governments are
unjust, or those in power force those under them to endure senseless
suffering because of their greed. We naturally feel angry when the
criminal’s rights take priority over the rights of the victim.
These are examples of normal irritations which God is not asking us to
eliminate. But He does want to purify the way we respond to our natural
affections and irritations so we do not allow them, in any way, to
hinder us from loving others just as we wish to be loved.
Sanctification does not make God the constant and direct object of our
thoughts and affection. There are moments when we will give direct
attention to God as we read the Bible, pray, meditate upon some aspect
of God’s love or portion of His Word, listen to a sermon, or sing
and worship with others who have gathered to praise the Lord. However,
there are other moments when our attention is directed toward the
activity at hand. When we are driving in busy traffic or participating
in an intense discussion, we must focus our attention on what we are
doing if we are to do it well. This is not just acceptable, it is
necessary. The proof we are being sanctified is not in constantly
thinking about God, but in making consistent, obvious progress in
living for Him. To drive with respect for other drivers, to listen
carefully and respond in love when someone is criticizing us, to
provide for our family, to be honest in our work, to keep our word, to
share what we have with those in need, to stand for what is right and
just in the face of evil or injustice, to speak about faith in God to
the unbeliever, to protect the weak, to be intimately involved in the
building of God’s kingdom here and around the world, to seek the
well-being of all mankind – these are the things which prove God
is the supreme object of our thoughts and affection. God wants to so fully
sanctify us that when others observe our lives it looks to them as if
He is the constant and direct object of our thoughts and affection.
Sanctification does not mean we are free from errors in judgment. The
sanctifying process brings about amazing changes in our thought life,
choices, and behavior, but it does not mean we become infallible. Our
level of understanding and application of truth is limited by what we
know, our level of maturity, experience, and wisdom. The more we grow
in knowledge and experience, both in the spiritual and natural realm,
the more of God’s truth we can apply to the varied circumstances
of life. There are many judgments and decisions to be made each day.
Improved decision making comes with increased knowledge, added
experience, and greater wisdom. As we trust God to continue working in
us, as we search and study the Bible, as we reflect on our experiences
to see how we can improve, and as we persist in asking for wisdom, we
will improve the quality of our judgments and decisions. God will
sanctify us as we submit to His sanctifying process, judgment errors
and all.
Sanctification does not remove our ability or our freedom to sin. There
is nothing about the process of sanctification which changes us in such
a way as to make it impossible for us to sin. As long as we have the
intellect and freedom of will God created us with, we can choose
self-centeredness over love, sin over righteousness, and our way over
God’s way. This does not mean we should tolerate known sin, or
take failure lightly. Neither does it mean we should see ourselves as
total failures if we foolishly choose to give in to temptation and sin.
Keep everything in perspective. The goal of sanctification concerning
the issue of sin is threefold. First, to develop within us a hatred of
sin and the resolute determination never to sin again. Second, to give
us the motive and means to do what we know is right. Third, to teach us
how to get back on track when we go astray (i.e., to confess our sin,
make things right with those we have wronged, and get back on the path
of doing what we know is right).
Sanctification
is God’s way of conforming us in thought, motive, word, and deed
to the image or likeness of His son, Jesus. It is the only path to
godliness. Other paths may lead to improvements in specific areas, but
only sanctification has the means and power to transform us whole-life,
life-long. With sanctification being the only path to Christ-likeness,
God expects every one of His children to follow it to the end. In fact,
sanctification is so vital to God’s plan for securing the good of
all that should we choose to forsake this path and return to the
willful and continued practice of our old sinful ways, we put our
soul’s salvation in jeopardy. (Note: Ezekiel 18:24-32, 33:10-20
with special consideration for 33:13; Matthew 7:17-23; Luke 8:9-18;
Romans 8:12-14; Hebrews 2:1-4, 3:12-4:2, 6:4-8, 10:23-31, 12:14-25;
James 1:26-27, I John 2:3-6, 3:1-10, 4:7-8)
With sanctification being the only path to godliness, and with it being
so vital to God’s plan for securing the good of everyone
everywhere, why is it a path or process and not an instantaneous act?
What keeps God from conforming us to the image of Jesus at the moment
we repent and put our faith in Him? It seems a most practical solution
to the sin problem. So why not?
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In this life we may never know the full answer to this
question. But there are clues surrounding this process that shed some
light as to why it is a process requiring time, compliance, and
persistence on our part. The following five clues help us understand
why God chose to make sanctification a process and not an instantaneous
act.
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SUBMISSIVE
I do His will as if I were His slave.
TRUSTFUL
I trust Him completely to be my provider and
protector as if I were His young child.
LOVING
I love Him above all others
and do those things which endear Him to me
as if I were His bride.
MUTUALLY INTIMATE
Our relationship is two-ways.
We love each other. We trust each other.
We do almost everything together.
We always seek the good of the other.
We serve each other. We talk a lot.
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Sanctification
brings change – profound, penetrating, life-altering change. This
life-affecting process draws us into a submissive, trustful, loving,
and mutually intimate relationship of communion and companionship with
God. It teaches us to deny the sinful side of self-interest so that we
replace self-centeredness with heart-felt, action-oriented love which
seeks the good of everyone affected by everything we do. It trains us
to serve God, first and foremost, so that we focus on what we can do
for Him rather than on what He we want Him to do for us. It teaches us
to share with those less fortunate rather than squander our resources
on the pursuit of luxury, personal happiness, and financial security.
It trains us to use what power we have to defend the weak and empower
the powerless. It teaches us to build relationships of mutual love and
trust rather than power-bases of control or fortresses of
self-protection. It motivates us to aggressively seek out
non-Christians for the purpose of inviting them to repent, to be
reconciled to God, and to live for God. It prepares us to go into the
world around us and be the saltiest salt and the brightest light we can
be for the glory of God and the advancement of His purposes. It
implores us to live up to what we know is right, right now.
Living up to what we know is right is the most important thing we can
do in cooperating with God’s work of sanctification. But the
motive for living up to what we know is of equal importance to the
doing. To see why our motive is of equal importance to our actions,
consider this: There are two primary motives for doing what we know is
right: obligation and conviction.
SUBMISSIVE - I do His will as if I were His slave.
TRUSTFUL - I trust Him completely to be my provider and protector as if I were His young child.
LOVING - I love Him above all others and do those things which endears Him to me as if I were His bride.
MUTUALLY INTIMATE
- Our relationship is two-ways. We love each other. We trust
each other. We do almost everything together. We always seek
the good of the other. We serve each
other. We talk a lot.
In relation to
doing what we know is right, the motive of obligation is based on fear
and hope. This means that the motive of obligation finds its power to
motivate through an appeal to our fear of punishment and/or hope of
reward. The weakness of this motive, then, is that it uses
self-interest (selfishness) to promote unselfish, and often
self-sacrificial behavior. This is like making a child overcome his
fear of the dark by threatening or bribing him to sleep in a room with
the light off and the door closed. He may do what you want, but only
because you’ve made the cost of disobedience or the reward of
obedience greater than his fear of the dark. In other words, obligation
compels us to do what we do not yet believe in, or agree with, or would
choose to do if we could do what we wanted to do. The problem with this
is twofold. First, no matter how noble obligation-driven-obedience
begins, in time it breeds grudging obedience and resentment toward the
one requiring obedience. Second, remove the fear of punishment or hope
of reward and obedience quickly returns to disobedience. Therefore,
instead of providing the sustaining motivation to remain faithful to
the process of sanctification, obligation ultimately turns us against
God and feeds our desire to return to doing as we pleased.
In relation to doing what we know is right, the motive of conviction is
love based. This means that conviction finds its power to motivate
through our concern for the good of others, especially those directly
affected by our choices and behavior. The strength of this motive,
then, is that it uses community-interest (selflessness) to promote
unselfish, and often self-sacrificial behavior. In other words,
conviction inspires us to do what we cheerfully and of our own
free-will want to do, agree with, and believe in as the only sane and
sensible way to live. The advantage of this is that it breeds eager
obedience while feeding our adoration and respect for the one
entreating us to do what is right. Therefore, conviction provides
internal, intentional, tenacious, voluntary, whole-life faithfulness to
the process of sanctification, and a growing, maturing endearment for
the One sanctifying us.
There is no denying that obligation-driven-obedience
produces quicker results than conviction-driven-obedience. But if we
are forced into the sanctifying process through threat of punishment or
promise of reward, our cooperation can never be whole-hearted,
voluntary, or cheerful. It can never produce God’s intended
results. Forced obedience is never the result of a changed mind about
right and wrong, about God, and about self. It is the result of a
self-serving response to the fear of punishment or the hope of reward.
Without a changed mind, without the conviction that sanctification is
the only sane and sensible choice, without voluntarily submitting to
God’s process of sanctification, we will never become any more
godly than our self-centeredness will allow. Therefore, God will not,
and does not, force us into being sanctified.
If we are to be sanctified, we must be willing to be
sanctified. We must voluntarily submit to God and cooperate with
His efforts to sanctify us. We must, of our own free will, take
responsibility for our part, and do our part until our dying day. We
must, of our own volition, do what we know is right. We must willingly
acknowledge and deal honestly with the selfishness and sin that are in
our life. We must choose to put self-centeredness to death. We must, of
our own accord, give up anything that gets in the way or slows the
process of becoming all God has saved us to be. We must intentionally
die to any passion or appetite, any concern or aspiration, any
amusement or hobby whose craving for gratification distracts us from
our commitment to be conformed to the image of Jesus. We must
deliberately search for or ask to be shown the fears which drag us into
sinful choices and behavior. We must willfully cast aside every idol so
we can love and trust God above anyone and anything else. Truly, we
must be willing for God to wholly sanctify us in whatever way and by
whatever means He deems best if we are to be sanctified at all.
A word of caution is important here. Be careful not
to confuse wishing with willing. They are not the same. Wishing is a
form of wanting which places the burden for receiving on the giver. You
can forever wish to be sanctified, yet do nothing to make your wish
come true, because you are waiting for someone else to make it come
true. Wishing lacks the personal commitment to make the personal
choices necessary for the wish to turn into reality. Many wish to be
sanctified, but they are waiting for God to magically change them, or
for God to motivate them, or for the right time, or for the right
circumstances. And while they are wishfully waiting, they involve
themselves in things that distract them from the sanctifying process.
For them, wishing is hoping they can be changed into Christ-likeness
without taking responsibility for their sinful desires and practices,
and without making the hard choice do to die to self.
In contrast to wishing, willing is wanting verified
by choices and actions which are intended to produce the desired
result. Those who are willing to submit to God’s process of
sanctification place the burden of sanctification on God and
themselves. They know sanctification is not a one-party, one-sided
process. They know that without God doing His part there is no hope of
progress in the process of sanctification. But they also know that they
must do their part if they are to be sanctified.
Now, think carefully about this last point. There is
no such thing as being willing to be partially sanctified. Being
willing to kill off part of self and forsake most sin is not a step in
the right direction. The purpose of sanctification is to change us from
being self-centered to having a loving concern for the well-being of
everyone (including God) affected in any way by our choices and
behavior. Partial improvement, be it one percent or ninety-nine
percent, defeats sanctification’s purpose by failing to kill
self-centeredness. For this reason, wanting partial sanctification is
wholly worthless. It says we do not want to completely deny self
because we are still convinced there are times when we need our
self-centered ways. Under this condition we cannot be sanctified, we
can only become as good as our self-centeredness will allow.
Do not let anyone deceive you about this. The
sanctifying process requires your voluntarily active, intentional,
whole-life, life-long participation to accomplish its purpose.
Therefore, if you do not voluntarily choose to cooperate with God,
wholeheartedly submit to His sanctifying process, and do your part, you
will not be sanctified.
The sanctifying
process is not an ‘either/or’ situation. It is not a
question of, “Are we sanctified, or aren't we?” It is not a
matter of being perfect or imperfect, sinless or sinful. It is a matter
of personal integrity – of being honest with ourselves about how
sinful we still are and how much sanctifying work is yet to be done. It
is a matter of hungering and thirsting after Christ-likeness - of
wanting nothing less than whole-life, life-long godliness. It is a
matter of wanting to love God supremely and others as our self, and
then pressing God to work with us until it becomes a reality. It is a
matter of whole-heartedly cooperating with God’s sanctifying
process – of persistently doing our part to pursue a godly life,
day-by-day, the rest of our life. It is a matter of living up to what
we know, and of following where we know God is leading. It is a matter
of taking full responsibility for our wrongdoing when we sin, making
things right with whomever we have sinned against, and returning to
doing what we know is right. These are the things that matter. And, as
we do these things, along with making full use of God’s promises
and provisions, and preparing each day for the challenges of that day,
we will steadily become as godly as is humanly possible.
Therefore, the issue is not whether we have attained sinless perfection
or still manifest sinful behavior. The issue is whether we have
earnestly gotten involved in God’s sanctifying process and are
making progress toward becoming as sinlessly perfect as any human can
be. Because of our humanity, perfection may not be possible in this
world. But because of God’s power and methods for fulfilling His
intentions to sanctify us, steady and obvious progress toward
perfection is a reasonable expectation.
The point of all this is that sanctification is a process. It is
a process which takes time and effort on both God’s part and ours
to bring it to completion. There is nothing instantaneous about
becoming all God saved us to be, or about being conformed to the
likeness of Christ in every single area of life, any more than growing
from childhood to adulthood is instantaneous. Therefore, it is not a
matter of being sinlessly perfect today, but of making today count in
becoming more like Christ. This is why sanctification is not an
either/or situation.
The more we
learn, the more we are able to learn. What we know enables us to learn
what we do not know. We cannot learn something previously unknown
unless we know something which connects us to that unknown. In other
words, we cannot learn how to add and subtract, or divide and multiply,
until we have learned about numbers and the value each number
represents. We cannot understand advanced math until we have learned
basic math. In the same way, before we can understand and apply the
deeper, more advanced truths about God and His Word, we must understand
and apply the basic, foundational truths. This should not surprise
anyone since it is the way we learn everything.
Therefore, if we are to grow to maturity as Christians, it will require
learning the basics before we can learn the deeper truths. It will
require beginning at the beginning and working from there to the more
advanced lessons. There is no shortcut to the deeper truths. If we ask
God to completely and immediately change us, we may be expressing a
sincere desire, but we are asking for something that goes against the
way He created us. This fact should not discourage us, for certainly
our all-wise and loving God knows what is best. We can, therefore,
rejoice that He is doing something good in making sanctification a
process. And, we are doing all God asks of us when we are living
according to what we know – be that one truth or hundreds of
truths.
Our beliefs,
fears, desires, passions, and impulses are hothouses overgrown with
seeds of self-centeredness. From the day of our birth, these seeds are
nurtured by Satan, the world (especially our social circles and the
media), and our natural bent toward selfishness. Satan’s goal is
to nurture these seeds into a bumper crop of faulty beliefs, bad
habits, irrational fears, self-deceptions, and self-sabotaging choices
– fertilized and watered by distrust of God. And as is undeniably
obvious, He achieves his goal in every one of us.
During childhood, our primary focus is on self. We pursue, most often,
those things which are self-serving, self-gratifying, and
self-protective. Because of this, we get entangled in many faulty
beliefs, selfish desires, foolish passions, thoughtless impulses, and
irrational fears. We then develop ways (which through repetitive use
become habits) of dealing with life according to our perception of
people and circumstances. Through repetitive use, these habits became
so familiar we no longer have to think about them - we just live
according to them.
Therefore, by the time we are eighteen, even the nicest among us have
harvested a bumper crop of sin-promoting beliefs, self-serving habits,
irrational fears, and foolish choices. We have invested heavily in
self-centeredness, believing it ensures the greatest amount of personal
happiness and security. And too often, we have done what we’ve
known to be wrong because we’ve admired sin’s utilitarian,
fast-acting, self-gratifying, self-protecting solutions when looking
for acceptance and love, pursuing pleasure, striving to control people
and circumstances, seeking financial security, or dealing with
difficult situations.
However, as we grow into adulthood, we gain the ability to examine our
methods of survival. As adults, we can determine which beliefs, habits,
and fears are fit for use as a loving adult, and which ones need to be
discarded. If we do not examine the survival methods we developed as
children, and discard the ones based on selfishness, we will continue
to use them as adults. We may dress them up so they do not look so
obviously selfish, but we will depend on them just as much as when we
were children.
Because we are intricate beings with many interlocking twists and turns
in our personalities, no single habit or fear stands alone. Each one is
interrelated with other beliefs and fears. If we are to change one
habit or fear, we will have to deal with the others that are linked to
the one we are seeking to change.
Consider anger. Sinful anger (inappropriately expressed anger),
is directly related to control. Control is based on the belief that we
cannot be happy or secure, or that something is significantly wrong, if
people and circumstances do not act according to our expectations.
Believing it is our right to be happy and secure, and that it is our
obligation to require others to do things our way (because we think our
way is right, or the only way), we proceed to control and manipulate
people and circumstances in keeping with our beliefs. When others do
not cooperate with us in satisfying our wants and needs, we believe it
becomes justifiable to make them cooperate. Too often, then, we make
them cooperate through the use of anger – making uncooperative
people do what we want and keeping unkind people from doing what we
don’t want. Experience teaches us that if we get angry enough,
most things go our way. Getting our way enough reinforces our belief
that anger is an effective method of control.
When we repent and place our faith in God, the Holy Spirit and
God’s Word convict us concerning our selfish use of anger. As we
cooperate with God in dealing with our anger, we must also deal with
the related beliefs and feelings which drive us to pursue happiness and
security in self-centered ways (at the expense of others and to the
detriment of loving relationships). Therefore, it is not just anger and
control of others that has to be dealt with. We must also deal with our
beliefs about personal rights, happiness, security, and arrogance (my
way is the right way, best way, only way) – just some of the
driving forces behind our manipulative anger.
Dealing with anger in this wholistic way requires time. We must first
see that we selfishly use anger to get our way. Then we must see that
the driving force behind our anger is insecurity, or the desire for
personal happiness, or arrogance. Next, we must look into God’s
Word and discover what He says about security, happiness, and humility,
where He says it is found, and how to gain it within the boundaries of
love. After coming to these truths, we then need to work these truths
into our life so we will look for security and happiness in the right
places and in the right ways. This is not easy. In fact, it is hard,
repetitive work.
Soon after becoming a Christian, Jan saw how she used anger to control
people and circumstances in an effort to get her way. At first, she
balked at having to give up familiar methods for untried ways
(God’s) of dealing with people and circumstances. She said
God’s ways made her feel defenseless, and at the mercy of others
– a feeling she wanted nothing to do with because she hated even
the hint of vulnerability. But once she saw how her anger made those
around her feel unloved, unimportant, used, and abused, and how it
destroyed her chances of having meaningful, intimate, shared
relationships with those closest to her, she was ready to make the
change. That is when she hit the brick wall.
Jan had made the godly choice, but now she had to break her
long-established habit of using anger to get her way. Instead of
trusting her ability to manipulate and control others, she now had to
use God’s methods. She had to trust Him to work things out for
the good of everyone involved – in His time, not hers. To begin
doing this, she spent time at the beginning of each day preparing to do
the new thing - God’s thing - until it was firmly planted in her
mind as the only way. When tempted, she would review why selfish anger
was sinful and worthless, and why God’s way was best. She would
then resist the temptation, redirect her thinking so as to think
God’s way, and proceed to do what she knew was right. If she
failed to do what was right, she would confess her sin, make the wrongs
right with whomever she hurt, and get back on the path of doing things
God’s way. Then, at the end of each day, she would thank God for
His direction and help in living according to what she knew.
Change did not come naturally or easily for Jan. In fact, if anything
came naturally and easily it was her old use of anger to control the
people closest to her. She was in a battle, a fight for her life. But
after about five months, God’s loving way began to become a
habit, the natural thing, something she could do without all the
preparation and careful thought. Because she stayed in the battle,
drawing on God’s power and using His resources to gain victory
over temptation, she had made significant progress. Now, a solid
victory was in sight. What began as a difficult struggle was now much
easier. Praise the Lord!
God can do anything. He is all powerful. He can completely change us in
an instant. But that is not His way. He has chosen to make life an
experience of growth, be it our physical, mental, emotional, or
spiritual life. The death of self begins as a once-for-all decision,
but it requires a process and time to be worked out. There are no quick
fixes for long-time, self-centered beliefs, irrational fears, and
sinful habits.
Sanctification
does not mean the end of temptation. If you make the decision to die to
sin, be it in a general or specific sense, you can be sure Satan and
the world will make every possible effort to win you back. If they
cannot win you back to their way of life, they will make every effort
to derail you from God’s path of love. Even Jesus was tempted
during his days on earth. We should expect no less.
If we examine the temptations of Jesus, we discover that the more
broadly our faith is applied and the more spiritually mature we become,
the stronger the temptation to sin. This is the case because the
strength of temptation must be equal to the strength of our faith in
God if it is to have any attraction at all. Those who are the most
mature in their Christian life experience the strongest temptations.
Therefore, we must remain active in God’s sanctifying process,
depending on God and all He has provided, in order to keep free from
the influence and practice of known sin the rest of our days on earth.
(Note: Luke 4:1-13)
Sanctification
is the process by which we, through faith in God, are separated from
self-centeredness, the world, and sin. It is the process by which we
are consecrated to God – set apart for fellowship with Him and
fitted for service to Him. It is the process by which love is made both
the ruling principle over and motive behind every thought, word, and
deed. It is the process through which we mature in serving God by
seeking the good of everyone affected by our choices and behavior. It
is a process that begins the day we put true faith in God, repent of
sin, and call upon Him for salvation from the power and practice of
sin. It is a process that lasts until we become perfectly holy like He
is holy.
Sanctification is a process that takes time and effort. The choice to
repent, completely trust in God and His Word, and pursue holiness, is a
moment-in-time, once-for-all choice. It cannot be improved on, only
worked out. In other words, making the choice to be godly takes place
in a moment of time while growing in godliness takes place over a
period of time.
Sanctification is not a process to be feared or to be born as a burden.
Rather, it is to be embraced with joy, and with a zealous cooperation
with the One who is sanctifying us. There can be no lasting good and
happiness for any of us until we submit to God’s sanctifying
process and become new creatures filled with deep, life-affecting love
for God and our fellowman. As we see the truth of this, we will plead
with God to press the issue of sanctification in our life, holding back
for nothing, so we can become everything He saved us to be.
What about you? Are you willingly, intentionally, eagerly, zealously
submitting to God’s sanctifying process? If you do not seem to be
cooperating as you should, are you willing to face up to the fears
and/or desires which are getting in the way of God’s purifying
process? Are you willing to take responsibility for your resistance to
God’s working in you? Are you willing to ask God to work in
you in order to bring you to that place where you will willingly,
intentionally, eagerly, zealously, and fully participate in His
sanctifying work?
God will see you through as long as you keep cooperating with Him and
depending on Him to enable change. It may require some time before you
see major changes taking place, but you will be changed. God is
faithful, and He will bring to pass all that He has promised. You can
stake your life on it.