Over the past few days, I have been thinking about a question posed by a teacher in my Web Writing class. It isn't an easy question, but one that deserves an answer.
So here's the question: Is sanctification our responsibility or God's?
According to www.biblegateway.com, Sanctification is "the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration" which in laymen's terms means that after you have accepted God as your Lord and Saviour and have taken his offer to be freed from sin and death, God will keep working in your life to mold you into something better.
As my dad put it, "If I were to forgive you, I couldn't change you into a better person. But if God forgives you, He has the power to keep working in your life to make you more like Him."
Some verses that illustrate this are: Philippians 2:13, which says, "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." In Galatians 2:20 it says, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
If Christ is living within you, then He is transforming you from the inside out to be a clearer reflection of His likeness. This means that while God is the one responsible for your sanctification, you must have already accepted his free gift of salvation.
What are your thoughts?
If sanctification is all God's work, then why don't we see more sanctified people around us, especially older adults who are supposed to be mature Christians?
ReplyDeleteMike