If you follow my blog with any regularity, you know that I have been on a spiritual journey, searching for my place in calling and struggling through the same sins over and over again.  I have been reading through a book by Joshua Harris called Dug Down Deep and one chapter in particular just ruined me.  After reading the previous chapter, I had found myself in the same place that I often have in the past:  “I know I am saved by grace, but if I am supposed to have a new heart and an incredible desire to be like Jesus, turning away from sin, why am I always finding myself in the same sins?”

Then came chapter 8, Changed, Changing, To Be Changed. I had never seen sanctification in the light that this chapter shed on it.  I had been so focused on the past-tense “changed” part of sanctification that I couldn’t see that sanctification is a process of being changed until the we are fully changed at Christ’s return.  In a self-admittedly flawed analogy, Harris describes sanctification like this:

…we’re like prisoners of war who have been freed from captivity but are still behind enemy lines.  In a real sense we have been rescued–we’re no longer locked up and at the mercy of the enemy.  But at the same time, the war isn’t over.  We’re waiting for our captain to return and completely vanquish the enemy.  The fallen world, the devil, and our own wandering hearts put us at risk.  Like never before, we have to be on our guard.

Harris talks about Romans 13:14 and even shared some doodles from when he was developing a sermon on the verse.  I shared one of these doodles above that represents the flesh when we’ve made provisions for it.  I think that if you are like me and you have put all of your focus on the “change” that happened when you accepted Christ, it has probably been easy to make provisions for the flesh.  I know my sins had grown so much that I was letting them run my life.  Instead of feeding our sins, part of continually changing is starving our sins.  As we strive to be like Jesus, we know that we will not reach perfection until the day He returns.

The thing that put everything into perspective for me is the fact that God wants us to be changing to be like Christ because He loves us as His own children.  As children, we are to imitate The Father who is loving, kind, pure, truthful, patient, and gentle.  Being sanctified is not just about a list of rules and changing our sinful ways, but also about wanting to please God and do the right things.  In the words that Harris writes, God encourages us as our Father, saying:

“I love you right now. You have a relationship with me that isn’t changed by your performance.  I am your dad.  You are my son.  You are my daughter.  Nothing can change that.  I love you.  I am always your Father.”

When you fall or mess up again, remember those words.  When I fall into that same sin again that I said I’d never do again, I need to remember that He is still my Father and still loves me right then.  29 simple pages in a book helped me realize that I am not a failure as a Christian because of the sin that I still find myself in.  29 simple pages reminded me that I am not done changing yet.  1 simple paragraph reminded me of the love my Father has for me and how much I want to please Him.