The Big Picture of Sanctification
Dr. John Snyder is the pastor of Christ Church New Albany, director of Media Gratiae, host of The Whole Counsel podcast, and author of multiple multimedia Bible studies including the Behold Your God series and Living with the True God: Lessons from Judges.
In Living with the True God: Lessons from Judges, Dr. Snyder describes the danger of stopping short of putting every sin to death.
HOW FAR ARE YOU DETERMINED TO GO WITH CHRIST IN THE PURSUIT OF PUTTING YOUR SIN TO DEATH?
How far are you determined to go with Christ in the pursuit of putting your sin to death?
Be honest with yourself: How much progress in sanctification (being transformed into the moral image of your Savior) is enough for you? Would 90% of your life transformed be sufficient for you to stop the fight? If we are honest, most of us are settling for much less than that. We tend to stop at the level of holiness that is expected in our religious culture. In other words, we get about as Christlike as the people we go to church with—perhaps even a little more—and then we relax. We avoid the major thou shalt nots, and we fulfill the expected thou shalts. Beyond that, sanctification appears optional. We can be sure that if we fight against temptations and old sinful patterns only as far as they affect our happiness, we will stop long before God intends.
we must keep the greater work of God before our eyes.
Like Israel, we must keep the greater work of God before our eyes. God has given each believer and each church instruction regarding the fight against sin. Step back and consider how God’s overarching plans should determine how we wage war against sin in our lives, homes, churches, and world.