Sanctification: What’s the Point?

“They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” -Psalms 14:3

Dear Church,

However much I or anyone else would like to avoid this uncomfortable truth, our nature is inclined to depravity. Your nature desires evil and so does mine. Our parents have evil desires, along with our grandparents and their parents. With that in mind, what is the point of attempting to obey? Why try to become good? Is it a vain pursuit?

It seems as though each time I see progress in my own sanctification process in this walk with Christ through life, I watch myself take one step forward and two steps back. Sure, maybe I will give more of my time to my church. Yet, although I know that Christ’s salvation for me is totally unmerited, I will be unforgiving towards those who have wronged me in the past. Do I not remember Jesus’s words about forgiveness?

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” -Matthew 6:14-15

Need I not forget I still haven’t quite defeated lust? So I ask, what is the point of sanctification if I still remain such a mess? You are a mess, too. Yet we both serve the same God in our churches. With all of my selfishness, I ought to have no place serving such a loving God. Yet, I do serve Him, and so do you, my seriously flawed brothers and sisters in Christ. These observations and considerations have led me to ask God why He even bothers sanctifying us, knowing we truly are “filthy rags” apart from Christ, as the Scriptures describe us.

We see hypocrisy every day from me and from you, and yet, God is still somehow glorified through His church? How, God? Why?

But maybe I am only seeing the mess and not what God has accomplished in us. The fact that we, selfish as we are, serve in our churches and care for others ought to be considered miraculous in itself. We are a mess, yes, but we are more than that because of Christ. Is it not so glorious that God, though not needing His Church lets us join Him in healing others?

We should consider that although we are each deeply flawed, we are also deeply loved by our Father in Heaven. Maybe the point of sanctification is that God takes a mess and creates in us something beautiful in a way that only a Sovereign and loving God can. His plans will come to fruition with or without us, but my goodness, how sweet it is to obey the Father who has given us everything! Even the smallest act of obedience and turn from selfishness brings God glory. Maybe you and I, selfish as we may be, can choose to obey our Creator today, not out of ulterior motives, but out of pure love and thankfulness for the salvation He has so freely given us. I still fail to understand sanctification and will continue to wrestle with it. However, one truth remains clear: sanctification glorifies our Father in Heaven. Maybe we ought to remove the lens of cynicism and be thankful for what God is already creating in us.

“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” -Philippians 1:6

-Sincerely,

A Seriously Flawed Follower of Christ

Photo from: Chris Powers, http://fullofeyes.com/

How to be Lonely

If you want to accomplish loneliness, you must understand how to maintain an extensive mask. When you speak with others, you may only reveal a glimpse of your true emotions and motives, only the ones that are socially and culturally acceptable.

Take the word vulnerable out of your vocabulary. In western culture, we value independence, not openness. To keep your facade unscathed, you must convince others that you do not need them. Congratulations! Your social status has just increased immensely.

While your social status will boost you self esteem and ego, you will have to fight off the desire to be truly known for who and what you are. This should not be so hard, though, because luckily, you can keep distracted with work and school so that this desire for intimacy can be suppressed.

Every once in a while, you will have a breakdown, but make sure not to share this with your friends. You want them to think you have it all together, remember? If you do fall into the unfortunate temptation to share your weakness, be sure to keep it vague and end your statement on a positive note, assuring your beloved friend that your emotional walls are impenetrable.

You will have plenty of friends. Actually, by keeping your facade, you’ll have more friends. The less negative emotions you express or share, the more friends you will have. Your friends must only know your positive emotions. This way, not only do you appear to be stronger than you are, but more of them will want to stick around, too. Friendships will mostly be non-committal and surface level for you, making them low maintenance and shallow.

Once you have accomplished the perfect mask, you will feel completely isolated and alone, because those who are around you will only understand the superhero side of you that you try to maintain. But it sure is good for your ego. This level of independence will ensure that your pride in yourself is never lacking.

Of course, I am sure there are other ways to be lonely, but living my entire life in Western culture, this is what I have observed: Independence is looked upon with great honor, while Vulnerability is viewed as weakness. There is a balance between the two, I am sure, but here in the US I’d argue we possess a much stronger dose of the former.

While being fully independent and creating a beautiful mask is appealing because it is safe and much easier than building true community with others, it will crush you in the end, I promise. Dare to let yourself be known for who and what you are, not what you want to be. Sure, you will get hurt, but you will also experience the most true form of love and community you can find.

I encourage you, if you are feeling isolated by the mask you wear, to muster the strength to be truly known by your brothers and sisters. The world will be a better place for it.

Galatians 6:2 “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Sovereign

When calamity strikes, I am intrigued by the answers the Church gives to console the sufferer. The answer that gives me the worst taste in my mouth, however, is: “Well, we live in a fallen world.” Now, this statement is most definitely true, but in itself is not the only reason behind the suffering we experience.

What this statement leaves out is God’s sovereignty, about which Matthew 10:29 states, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s will.” Proverbs 16:9 tells us, “A man’s heart plans his course, but the Lord determines His steps.”

What does this mean to us? While suffering exists because of the fallen nature of the world, God’s sovereignty means that He has purpose behind the pain we experience. We tend to view pain as a mere side effect of living in a sinful world, yet we often fail to consider how God is sovereignly using the pain that exists to accomplish His will. It is so tempting to ask God, “Why are you allowing this pain to occur? I do not deserve this. Are you even still good?” But this assumes that we do not deserve pain, which I think Scripture would tell us, is an illogical conclusion. This is not to say that every instance of pain means that I particularly deserve it or have done something to bring it upon myself, but it does mean that as a sinner at the mercy of God, if God wants to allow calamity to strike me, He has done me no wrong.

I want to bring to your attention how profound the story of Job is, and how prideful it is to think suffering can take away from God’s goodness. As the story goes, God essentially makes a deal with Satan and allows the Devil to kill Job’s family, take all of his wealth, and cover him in boils and sores. Throughout the book, Job is angry and spends many chapters questioning God (understandably so), and God’s response is almost difficult to reconcile with. If I were Job, I’d want to hear God tell me He’s sorry and that these things should not have happened to me, but God gives him an opposite answer. In Job 38:2, God tells Job, “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” God goes on for a couple more chapters questioning Job, asking him if he understands what God understands. In Job 40: 2, God says, “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? Let him who accuses God answer Him!” God continues in verse 8, saying, “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?”

Now, while the Lord did restore what Job had lost, I would argue that God was not obligated to. He did so out of His love and mercy, but if He had not, He would still be just as good as He always has been. What fascinates me is that God did not ever tell Job why these things happened, and was justified in that. God does not answer to us; we answer to Him. If something terrible happened to me and I was killed at a young age, God is no less just, as 1 Samuel 2:6-7 reminds us, “The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and exalts.”

While this message may seem depressing compared to a prosperity gospel Joel Osteen sermon, this is meant to encourage you. In my own life, understanding that the pain that strikes me is not merely subject to the fallen nature of the world but that God has purposes in it allows me to trust Him more. The suffering you experience is not just some accident that occurs at the whims of someone’s free will, but is sovereignly allowed by your Creator who loves you. Romans 8:28 promises us that the Lord is working for our good, and this includes how He uses our pain. Pain in itself is not ‘good,’ and evil things that occur are not ‘good,’ either. But our God brings goodness to it. From His grace He inserts purpose where, without Him, there is none.

For those of you in a season of wandering and grief, I want to encourage you that whether your pain was caused by someone else, the physical world, or anything else, God is sovereignly using your pain, and your pain is not just a purposeless side effect of the Fall of Man. As a child of God, your pain is being used every day to sanctify you and bring God glory. How long and to what degree we suffer is up to Him. If you have a chronic illness and God does not heal you, I will not pretend to understand why. But I can promise you that it is not without purpose. I struggle to do this myself, but to my fellow believers in a dry season, I hope you can rest a little easier knowing that your God is sovereignly present in your life. He is not some bystander who watches the mess that man’s free will makes. He is actively involved in our affairs, and is working for the Church’s ultimate good, even if our human reasoning cannot comprehend what He is doing. Rest in that today, even if every ounce in your body tells you not to. I will try to do the same.

“Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps.” -Psalms 135:6

Judgment

Over the past couple weeks, I have been quite vocal about my indignation with one person in particular. Though I do not know them well, I have been frustrated with their antics, as they speak too much and simply do not understand social cues. As I discussed these annoyances to a friend of mine, I was told that this person had special needs. Of course, I felt quite awful. But shouldn’t I have treated them with grace before I discovered this? If I truly loved my neighbor, I would have either looked past it, or quietly went to this person with my concerns in private. Instead, I chose to judge them to their very core.

The problem with my actions did not lie in the fact that I merely made a judgment. Rather, it was what I judged that caused me to stumble. I sinned when I chose to judge the person’s heart, as if I, a mere human being, understood their heart. 1 Kings 8:39 tells us that God alone knows the hearts of every person. My pride and arrogance showed through with the assumption, “They are just choosing to annoy me. Don’t they know better than that?”

Of course, we should judge actions. I think we can all agree that a society in which actions were not judged would be utter chaos. But we must be careful when we make judgments. When we judge, it ought to be reflective of the person’s actions, not their heart. We must refrain from assuming why people are the way that they are.

Assuming why when making judgments revealed pride in me. I was not only saying, “They should not act that way.” If I had only thought this, it would not have been sin. But the sin occurred when I was also saying in my heart, “I am above this person.” How unbelievably prideful and arrogant is this sentiment?

I am nothing without Christ. Any qualities deemed ‘good’ in me are the result of God’s mercy and grace alone. How dare I make assumptions about another’s heart, when my own heart in itself is unclean?

Lord, give me humility today. Remind me of what I am without you: a filthy rag.

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” -Romans 12:3

 

 

 

Anxiety

I am not sure why I am like this, but I must confess I have the most rampant, insane thoughts that run through my mind. Whether they be thoughts of accusations against me (which is typical) or simply overthinking even the small parts of life, anxiety defines a great portion of my life. Again, I do not know why I am like this, but I will do my best to explain how these intrusive thoughts have impacted me.

One of my most intense struggles is the fact that I am constantly accused…by my own mind. Any imaginable abominable action, I can assure you, my mind has put me up for trial as if I have committed such acts. In fact, I can go an entire day feeling deep guilt and anxiety over a sin I did not commit. This false guilt is so illogical, yet I hear my mind scream at me with a voice as loud as thunder, saying, “Guilty, sinner, horrid.” The most frustrating aspect of this struggle is that merely having a thought that suggests committing a sin causes me great anguish and a troubled conscience.

To be quite frank, I often feel that I am trapped inside my own mind, that I cannot speak of these experiences because of the absurdity of it all. I will often attempt to speak to myself logically, reminding myself that I have not done anything that my thoughts accuse me of. Of course, this tactic is bound for failure. It is like trying to reason with a raving lunatic.

When confronted with any sort of difficulty, there are only two options: fold or fight. My most common response for over a year was to fold. When it all started, I would intentionally avoid going out and spending time with friends, because I knew that my intrusive thoughts (which often accused me of hurting others or being inappropriate, etc.) were worse when I was around other people. So, I decided being alone was better than dealing with my anxiety. I must say, this is a terrible choice to make. God made people for community, not loneliness and self-absorption.

Through all of this, I know that my God is with me, and maybe that is what angers me. God is with me, yet my anxiety has returned. How is that right? How is that fair? But you see, none of us are entitled to choosing which challenges we face. God loving us does not entitle us to comfort, either. It is easy to feel as though God was created for our purposes when we are down trodden and depressed, but we were made for His purposes. Period. Yet it is so easy to start this cycle of asking,” God, what can you do for me?” As if the God of Heaven, the One who saved our souls from our deserved tickets to Hell, owes us something. God could allow me to struggle with anxiety for the rest of my life, and He would still be just as good as He always has been. Of course, God does care for me, and certainly empathizes with my misery. But clearly, God has a purpose in my pain that I cannot see. I wish I could see, but again, I am not entitled to that luxury. God created me for His purposes; He was not created for mine. I can either have faith in his plans or I can choose to become selfish and focus on my pain. I pray that I consistently refuse the latter.

 

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”

For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen. -Romans 11:35-36

 

 

Suffering

It is often asked, ‘Why does suffering exist in a world which a good God created?’ To answer this question easily would be to undermine its complexity, but I think there are some truths about the nature of God that can help us see God’s purpose behind suffering.

First of all, I resent the notion that God could have made a different universe than the one he made. He is perfect, not able to make mistakes. It is not as if man’s sin somehow ruined God’s plan. To think this would be to horribly overestimate man’s power (A God whose creation somehow undermines his authority sounds more like a pseudoChristian humanist God to me). God’s plan could never be thwarted by man’s efforts (Job 42). But we must ask the right question in regards to God’s sovereignty.  We should not be asking, ‘Why did God not make the world differently?’ Rather, we should ask, ‘Why is this world the best possible plan that God had in mind (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain)?’

To create a world of souls with free will, consequences must exist. Had God intervened each time man sinned, mankind would consist of mere puppets. So, then, God’s plan for the world, was to create a world where man is capable of free will, in which suffering is inevitable. To quote C.S. Lewis, “Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself.”

So where is the hope? If man is evil and must suffer his consequences, certainly life appears pretty grim. There are ultimately two ways man has ever not succumbed to sin: ignorance and transformation. Ignorance would remove man’s free will to choose evil and in turn removes life and creates a puppet society like I mentioned. But I am so glad my God chose the latter: transformation.

Christ coming to earth was never a Plan B. It was the original plan. Christ’s Kingdom is coming to earth, transforming the lives of those who enter in. This new Kingdom, once it has arrived in its entirety, will consist of men and women who, though capable of choosing evil, will no longer have any desire to choose it. This is why a redeemed world is infinitely better than a world that never needed saving. Because Christ’s love can transform our very motives, suffering, the very consequence of sin, will be completely abolished. Temporary suffering is necessary to maintain man’s free will, but the Cross’s power lies in the fact that it changes our wills to reflect the nature of God, in which there is no blemish or wrongdoing. The time that this comes to full fruition, I do not know. But what I do know, is that one day sin and suffering will be completely abolished, as God’s Kingdom transforms the very hearts of its constituents.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” -Revelation 21:4

Trust or Wisdom?

When comparing two virtues, it is difficult to tell which are more or less important because virtues are often so closely intertwined. I want to address these two specifically because I think one tends to be overvalued. Wisdom, in my opinion, is often largely overvalued. I would like to give an example from two famous biblical kings: David and Solomon. I want to clear something up about David. David, in many respects, was a fool. He was unable to punish his children justly, even when his son Amnon raped his daughter Tamar. Out of pure anger, his other son Absalom killed Amnon. Once again, David played the family card and went easy on his son Absalom. Eventually, this gave Absalom the opportunity to rebel and divide the nation into a civil war. This man, this foolish warrior king, was a man after God’s own heart.

Now, let’s review Solomon’s characteristics. Solomon by all respects was certainly a much better king than David ever was. Throughout his reign, Israel remained at peace and surmounted substantial wealth. He was the wisest man the world had ever seen. Yet, this was the man who led Israel into large scale idolatry. The most capable king and intellectual the world had seen was unable to keep from that one sin that would be his greatest downfall.

You see, David, while foolish in many respects, had an unrelenting trust in God. He made a lot more mistakes than a lot of people have, yet, he was praised for his godly character. Solomon, on the other hand, seemed to have let his great wisdom be his guide somewhere along the road. How can it be that the most capable among us can have such a great downfall? In my mind, none of us are great. If God is sovereign, then what worth does our ability or intellect have at all?

You can make every wise decision and still end up failing. A lot of Solomon’s marriages and intercultural relations were most likely very smart political moves. But once again, what did he gain from that?

This does not mean that wisdom has no value. Wisdom, as seen in the Bible, is very important. The point to made here though, is that wisdom without trust in the Creator is no wisdom at all. Human efforts without the aid of God in Heaven are but ripples in a tiny meaningless pond. God often tells men to do seemingly unwise things, like love those who persecute them, or forgive others seven times seventy times. Why would God tell us to do these abnormal things? Well, for many reasons, but in part because your response will show how much you actually trust him. Whose understanding will you trust? His, or yours? When I die, I want to be able to say that I put my faith and trust in him. Heck, when I die what will I care about my past wisdom? It’s over. It’s done. I’m dead. My own wisdom will not help me now. But when I surrender my pride to the One who is sovereign, there I find true satisfaction.

1 Peter 2:6

 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

Why Are People Valuable?

Depending on who you ask, the answer to this question varies. Christian doctrine would indicate that human value comes from bearing the image of God. This means that people have inherent value, regardless of anything that they do. While this is true, I don’t think there has ever been a culture or ever will be a culture that truly values people for this reason alone. The fact is, in a broken world, people are valued for many other reasons. For example, for what does our own culture predominately value women? In short? Looks. For what does our culture predominately value men? Money and independence. A wise mentor once told me,”When people are valued based on anything but bearing the image of God, other people are devalued.” So, when we value people based on their own achievements or qualifications, others are simply not valued as they ought. If I only value subjectively attractive women, who is to vouch for women deemed physically unfit? If I only value able-bodied wealthy men, who is to vouch for the needy men? The fact is, achievements do not give you value at all.

When cultures do not value people for the right reasons, this is when genocide happens. Who did Hitler first test his concentration camps on? None other than the mentally handicapped. The mentally handicapped are not able to contribute to society in the way that others can. They are a liability economically. But this makes them no less valuable than you or me. Each one of them will always be just as valuable. I’m going to take this a step further with an example from the U.S. Here, we have almost gotten rid of the problem of DOWN syndrome. How did we achieve this glorious feat? By aborting DOWN syndrome fetuses. You see, if our value was determined by our abilities or contributions or moral achievements, eugenics would be the only option.

This concept was very humbling to me when I let it sink in. However I also have neglected to mention how you should value yourself. I know many people who are stressed out constantly because of this issue. I remember when I was younger, I always valued myself based on how good of a singer, athlete, and person I was. I know men who value themselves based on merit and women based on beauty. While we all want to be valued, is this not pride? It’s almost as if we believe that we have the capability to make ourselves more valuable than God already made us.

Ultimately, we need to remember that God gives us value, not culture. God gives us value, not ourselves. If we think otherwise, we are letting our pride deceive us.

Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;male and female he created them.”

 

Where Can I See God?

Throughout my life, I have asked myself this question way too many times to count. I’ve tried to prove his existence in my mind over and over again. If you are looking for a singular concrete answer, you’ve come to the wrong place. Ultimately, God can not be definitively proven or disproved. One approach is to prove God’s existence using physical footprints of the Creator in his Creation. Answers in Genesis, for example, prefers this approach. While I appreciate their efforts, I’m not sure I would attempt to prove God in this way. I wouldn’t try to prove an invisible Being using visible qualities. The universe is a beautiful place which displays her splendor throughout its existence. However, there is only one created thing that will ever point to the God of Lights: us. That’s right. You and me point to the Creator in numerous ways without even knowing it. Each human being is made in the image of God. Because of our brokenness, we sometimes forget how much we are like God. Much like God, we experience love, hate, anger, disgust, etc. Like God, we create things. We have the desire to know. We have the ability to choose. But I would say the most telling sign of our image bearing nature is our ties to morality.

Let me be clear, morality is not something we are always correct about. In our fallen nature, we sometimes even sin out of ignorance. The important point to be made is the fact that morality exists. Morality pierces beyond mere instincts. If I were to come across a man choking, the moral act would be to obviously help him. Now, this is an easily instinctual response to a fellow human in need. But what if saving his life cost my own? Is not that act praised even more? If we were merely instinctual creatures, this type of selflessness would not only be foolish, but it simply wouldn’t happen. If we were only able to act out of instinct, we would not be able to do anything selfless. In a spiritless, godless world, morality does not exist. In fact, good deeds are essentially useless without a higher Being. In a godless world, people would be incapable of doing good because the very term ‘good’ would be irrelevant. The concept of good would not exist. Many would argue that because the world is so broken, the idea of a God would be absurd. To them I wonder, from what point of reference did they know that the world is broken?

“If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”-C.S. Lewis