While
God’s heart is most definitely for our sanctification and holiness, his
perspective is far different than what I just described. You see, God
knows that sanctification doesn’t come about through our efforts. I can
in no way sanctify myself because in and of myself I have no holiness.
The truth God has for us today is simply this: sanctification comes
about by true relationship with our heavenly Father alone. Holiness is
the direct result of openly and continually encountering the nature of a
perfect, loving, and available God.
If
we are going to experience the fruit of righteousness, we must learn to
trust God in his plan for our sanctification. We must learn to trust
that in encountering him we will experience freedom from our sin and
healing for the wounds that drive us to the things of the world.
Psalm 37:5-6 says, “Commit
your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring
forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the
noonday.” When we trust God to bring about our righteousness by
simply committing our way to him and trusting in him, we engage in a
process of sanctification founded on encounters with his loving grace.
Sanctification
is not meant to be this heady process of turmoil and striving that we
so often experience. While it may be difficult, it is designed to be
filled with the continually forgiving and loving heart of our good
Father. It is designed to be based on experiencing Jesus that we might
become more like him.
Spend
time today seeking the heart of your heavenly Father. Commit your ways
to him and trust in him. Ask him to reveal his heart for your
righteousness. Ask him to guide you into a process of sanctification
marked by his grace, love, and nearness. Stop seeing the process of
sanctification as a never-ending timeline and instead center it wholly
around relationship with your heavenly Father. May you experience
righteousness and holiness today as you encounter the perfect nature of
Jesus. May your day be marked by peace as you commit your spiritual
development to the hands of the Potter. And may you be transformed into
the image of Jesus as you engage in the process of sanctification based
on relationship with a good, near God.