Thoughts On Sanctification

Dear Friends,

Today I share some “thoughts” on growing in godliness, a process which the Bible calls sanctification. It can essentially be understood as the restoration of the divine image that was so distorted by the fall of humankind into sin. The process which is meant to progressively make us more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus. Enjoy.

SANCTIFICATION / GROWTH IN GODLINESS

“Just as my assurance of salvation rests in the fact that God cannot change, my hope of sanctification rests in the fact that I can.” Jen Wilkin

“Sanctification is the “salvaging” aspect of salvation whereby God takes us – like a car that has been nearly totaled in an accident – and starts cutting off the sharp jagged edges, pulling out the dents, straightening out the frame, replacing various broken parts, applying and sanding the body filler, and then primes and paints it.”

“How long does it take to become a Christian? A moment — and a lifetime.”
Louis Cassels

“God is more concerned with our growth and maturity than He is with our doing, or even our happiness. It is who we become that is most important to God.” Dick Innes

“Growth in sanctification will never make us sinless, but it will make us sin less.”

“For God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” Ephesians 1:4

“God is just as interested in working on us as He is in working through us.”

“Did Christ finish His work for us? Then there can be no doubt that He will also finish His work in us.” Thomas Aquinas

“Sanctification is not the result of a passionate one-night stand, but an ongoing, life-long, committed love affair.” J.F.E.

“Sanctification is the Christianizing of the Christian.” A.H. Strong

“How little they know of Christianity who think that the story ends with conversion.” C.S. Lewis

“The transformed heart of sanctification is the result of a life which feeds by faith on the truth of justification.” J.F.E.

“The new birth is not the ultimate objective of the Christian life. It is the starting line of a spiritual journey where conformity to the likeness of Jesus is the finish line.” J.F.E.

“I fancy we are all too ready, once we are converted ourselves, to assume that God will deal with everyone exactly as He does with us. But God is no mass-producer and treats no two quite alike.” C.S. Lewis

“Salvation means “deliverance” from sin and its effects in three different tenses and three different ways:
1. In Justification we were saved from the penalty of sin.
2. In Sanctification we are being saved from the power of sin.
3. In Glorification we will be saved from the presence of sin.” J.F.E.

“Sanctification” is both an already-finished act of washing, and an ongoing process of transformation. It’s an instantaneous work of grace whereby God (in the new birth) makes us a new creation in Christ, and then progressively transforms us into what He already made us to be by bringing us to Jesus.”

“God wants us to enter His Kingdom as children… but He doesn’t want us to stay that way.” RGL

‘You can become a Christian in a moment, but not a mature Christian. Christ can enter, cleanse, and forgive you in a matter of seconds, but it will take much longer for your character to be transformed and molded to His will. It takes only a few minutes for a bride and bridegroom to be married, but in the rough-and-tumble of their home it may take many years for two strong wills to be dovetailed into one. So, when we receive Christ, a moment of commitment will lead to a lifetime of adjustment.” John Stott

“A disciple never ‘is,’ but is always ‘becoming,’ a Christian.”
B.B. Westcott

“God is engaged in processes that are directed at our salvation, which involves not only the forgiveness of our sins but also the removal of the disposition that makes us want to sin.” Eric T. Yang

“God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.”
Mark Batterson

 

“Sanctification is a process of growth that often consists of three steps forward followed by two steps back; four steps forward and three back, and so on. It is not a straight diagonal line of uninterrupted progress moving upward, but a jagged line of advances and lapses throughout life and ending in death with glorification.” Charles Swindoll (paraphrased)

“I am confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
St. Paul, Philippians 1:6

“Sanctification is the process of making the Jesus we initially took as King to be our King in life and practice.” J.F.E.

May these all be true of you. Pastor Jeff