Traveling down Sanctification Road

It’s been a while since I wrote to you.  Not that I haven’t tried, I have tried several times.  I would have what I thought was an inspiration, and before I knew it, the idea would fade away like a match reaching its end.  Or perhaps I would read it and come to the conclusion that I am preaching and I do not know near enough to do that.  So there are now several started but unfinished letters on my computer. 

Then sometimes, it is like I am alone.  But I know I am not.  I know He is with me.

I have been travelling down what I will call ‘Sanctification Road’.  I know it’s not a highway – that’s for sure.  There is no pre-defined distance.  There are no mile markers to judge how far that I have come.  There are no shortcuts and you certainly can’t speed down Sanctification Road.  Everyone goes at his own pace and there are many exits and turn-offs full of people that have strayed and left the road.

I believe that Sanctification Road is the path that we all follow once we are saved.

If you are not familiar with what ‘sanctification’ is, the following passages describe it fairly well.

Sanctification – Different Than Salvation

. . . Jesus gave his life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. His blood washes away our sins and frees us from an eternity of suffering and condemnation. Believers are saved because of what Christ has already done. We can do nothing to earn salvation, it is the gift given to every child of God regardless of race, age, maturity, or merit. Sanctification occurs as a result of salvation. At the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit enters our life. We are no longer held hostage by death, but are free to live the life God desires for us. We are thus sanctified simply because of our standing as lost souls saved by grace.

Sanctification – A Continuing Process

Sanctification does not stop with salvation, but rather it is a progressive process that continues in a Christian’s life. Unlike the things and places that are sanctified by God in the Bible, people have the capacity to sin. Even though we have been “set apart” as God’s children, we continue to behave in ways that are contrary. As Christians, we realize shortly after we have been saved that there is a new inner battle being waged within us – a battle between our old sin-lead nature and new Spirit-lead nature. Paul in Galatians best describes this inner struggle in Galatians 5:17: “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

From the website allaboutfollowingjesus.org/sanctification.htm

Now, with all that being said, let me say this, people always tell me when they read the Roscoe letters they appreciate the honesty and openness of the stories.

Well, here is some honesty for you.

I guess I’ve pulled off onto the shoulder of the road.  I am having a hard time praying.  At least on a regular basis.  I did have a routine set up where I would get up in the morning, read and post the Verse of the Day, read and post the Daily Devotional and then spend time writing out my prayers.  Followed by some scriptural study.  (Yes.  I know I was always a little thin on the scriptural study . . . but I was trying!)

But lately, I am having a hard time keeping God in front of me as my first priority.  I continuously let other things get in the way of praying or reading the word.  It’s not that God goes away or isn’t in my train of thought.

He is.

Almost constantly, I am questioning things, questioning him.  Doubting.  Trying to find some logical understanding of ‘Why?’

Every once in a while a little tidbit becomes clear to me.  Like why doesn’t God just come out and show us his power and demonstrate to everyone that he is the Almighty.  It is for the same reason a friend doesn’t want to have to prove himself to be worthy of ‘your’ friendship.  He wants to be accepted for who he is.  In this case, I have to accept God for who he is based on my faith in Him. 

God is the steadfast one, the unchanging.  It is me who strays from the path.

I also get hung up on praying to Jesus for fear that I am slighting God.  But then the Holy Trinity is all three in one entity correct?  God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit comprise the Godhead so if I pray to one am I not praying to them all?

So these are some of the potholes I have hit on Sanctification Road.  And then today, in the Young Adults in Denial Sunday School class the good Lord used Doug to send me an ‘Ah-Hah!’ moment.  Today, I finally understood what the phrase ‘Saved by Grace’ really means.

It’s OK.  I understand. 

You think everyone knows that already and there is nothing more you would like to do right now than hold up three fingers to the right side of my head while you peered into my left ear to confirm your thinking . . . that there is nothing inside this round cue ball of a head that I have.  Not even a pair of arthritic overweight hamsters in jogging suits drinking strawberry milkshakes and eating Hostess donuts watching a big screen TV.

Regardless of what you think you’ll find in there, I did find out today that the only thing we bring to the table when we ask Jesus into our hearts is ourselves and our understanding that there is nothing we can do to gain eternal life.  It is a gift from him to us.

But you have to have enough humility to understand that you alone are nothing.  You did not get to where you are on your own accomplishments or by something called ‘Karma’.  You are here because this is where God wanted you to be.  The many wonderful things I have in my life are not of my doing.  They are all gifts from God, and as Doug said this morning, I am just a steward of these blessings.  They can all be taken away at any moment and I would be powerless to stop them.

But as to my salvation, it is a gift given freely from Christ to me.  I need only believe in Him.

I do not need to work for it.  I do not need to give money for it.  In fact I do not even need to attend Church for it.

I am saved only by the Grace of God.

Then why you ask do all these other people ‘work’ for God?  Why does Cynthia conduct Children’s Church?  Why does Doug desire to prepare a Sunday School lesson each and every week?  Why do Ed, Sam and Hobert get up before zero dark thirty on Saturday mornings to cook breakfast for a bunch of men?  Why does Brother Eddie love a job that takes twenty four hours a day and seven days a week leaving little time for himself?

I’ll tell you.

They do it for the love of Christ.  

They do it all to show Christ how much they love Him and the appreciation for the many blessings that he passes upon us day in, day out.

And for the eternal gift that he gave us just because we asked.

Sincerely,

Roscoe
(Christian in Training)

Note –

For the basis of the Sunday School lesson today we read Mark 10:17-23 and Mark 10:46-52.  But you should read them too.  Read them slowly and carefully thinking about what Christ is saying.  It is not what you probably think at first glance.