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May 30, 2008
Faith : Sanctification, gradual
Continuing on with the series I had been doing on grace and sanctification, here are some specific observations on the process of sanctification.
As I have said previously in this series, humanity is flawed in our natures. We naturally do things that are harmful to ourselves, to each other, and to our relationship with God. God has provided a means to re-establish our relationship to Him through the Cross. One of God’s goals in re-establishing that relationship is so that He can work in our lives to change our nature. This process of God’s transformation of us is known by the theological term “sanctification”. So while we are not “saved” by somehow being “good enough” for God, the result of our being “saved” should be that we become “good”, or at least better than we were.
The key point I want to make is that this is a gradual process. It is true that by virtue of what Jesus did on the cross, God can interact with us as if we were already perfected. So in some legal/theological sense, we become pure and holy the instant we commit to taking Jesus as our Lord and Savior. However, one does not have to hang around Christians for very long before it becomes evident that this is a legal fiction (in the technical sense of that phrase) – that in reality we are all start our Christian walk just as messed up as we ever were and that it takes time for us to be changed by God into His image.
My observation is that the reason this takes time is that God only works in us when we let him. Some say this is because God has given us free will and will not take it back. Others have developed other theological explanations for this. Regardless, it appears God will not make a change in our nature unless we are willing to let him make such a change.
So why would someone not be willing to allow God to change them into a better person? As it turns out there are many reasons.
Sometimes a person doesn’t believe that something needs to change. They believe that a given aspect of their personality is just fine as it is, even though God knows they would be better with it different. In such cases God needs to wait until they become aware of the consequences of keeping that part of themselves before He can act. I personally believe God will, at the right time, provide circumstances in that person’s life that will highlight the need for change, so they will become more receptive to God’s work.
Sometimes a person wants to hold on to some aspect of themselves even when they recognize that it is harmful. They do this because the flaw and its consequences have become a familiar part of their identity and they no longer know who they would be if they let it go. I most often see this in people who have been wronged by someone else who have gone on to build some aspect of their life around that injury. Having become used to the bitterness, they are afraid to let it go even though they know it hurts them. I have also seen this with grief and other forms of suffering. In such cases God needs to comfort them and help them to see who they could be if they let go of their injury.
Sometimes a person is convinced that they can make the change themselves without God’s help and so does not give God permission to work in their lives. They might look for God’s help with “big things”; but believe they can handle the little stuff on their own. With such people God merely waits until they have grown tired of trying to do this on their own.
So, for each change God needs to work in us, He first needs to bring us to the point that we acknowledge the need, are willing to change, and have given up trying to fix it ourselves. Then, when we finally come to Him fully ready, He works to replace that part of our old faulty nature with a piece of Himself. It is not unlike transforming an old, broken-down car into a new model piece by piece. God gives us new, flawless pieces of ourselves as we are ready to receive them from Him.
The Christian life is then is a constant process where God is working to bring us to places in our lives where He can change us bit by bit into people who will be blessings to ourselves and others. This is often not a comfortable process – becoming a Christian doesn’t promise a trouble-free life. What it does promise is a relationship with God who will work to help you become all that you can be. At times this can be exhilarating as you see what God is accomplishing in and through you. Other times it can be a real struggle. However, I can honestly say 38+ years on, it has always been worth it.
I also want to note that all of this happens according to God’s plan, who knows best what needs to be changed when to minimize the total harm we all do to each other. This may not always mean that God deals with issues in ourselves and others in the order we want. Sometimes he may even plan on fixing some problem in someone else a bit later because their flaw is useful in bringing us to a place where we are ready to change something else in ourselves. We should not then be looking at each other as God works on us – comparing progress – we should always remain focused on Him and what He is doing with us as individuals.
Posted by Steven at May 30, 2008 05:00 AM
