Do we miss our Sanctification?

Stay around those of us that cross centered and you will quickly hear about our utter sinfulness. We continually decry our sinful state and proclaim our complete unrighteousness before a holy God. We singing songs and right on our blogs of the wickedness in our heart. We say right along with Paul, "We are the chief of sinners!"

But of course, we do not stop there. We proclaim our insufficiency for the purpose of filling ourselves with the treasures of Christ. We, rightly, turn our eyes off ourselves to turn our eyes on Christ. His righteousness completely covers our unrighteousness. We declares our need for a Savior and find the perfect Savior in Christ.

This is all wonderful and essential for the Christian. Our hearts magnify the grace of God that would look upon such sinners and flood them with blessing upon blessing! Our mouths should declare the God who calls the wicked to Himself and clothes them with a righteousness bought by his own blood. If one does not have any comprehension of all this, it is safe to say he is still separated from the Lord.

But, God justifying the ungodly is not the final aspect of salvation we live through as Christians. As Christians we must not just stop at Justification, Imputation, Adoption, and such in our praise to God. We must remember that God is transforming us into the image of Christ. He is working through His ordained means to make us see His glory and thus take his likeness. In Christ we are new creations The old is gone and all things are new(2 Cor 5:17). Our inner nature is being renewed day by day ( 2 Cor 4:16). We with unveiled faces are beholding the glory of the Lord and thus being transformed into the sane image (2 Cor 3: 18). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, righteousness in being formed in us. Having been set free from the slavery of sin we have become obedient from the heart (Rom 6:17). God has began a work in us, this is what we call sanctification.

But I have a tendency to miss this. I get so caught up in fighting to understand justification and the other aspects that surround it that I miss seeing God's glory in my sanctification. This issue was brought to my attention by one of my pastors, Ryan Fullerton at Immanuel Baptist Church. For those of us that really see the truth of God reconciling sinners to Himself and all that goes into it, we can miss God's work inside of us.

This is clearly seen in the fact that we will decry our sinful state and give little to no praise for the righteousness being formed in us. We continually put or wickedness and weakness before our eyes saying to ourselves what sinners we are.

Let me clarify, like I stated at first, the truth of repentance and seeing the grace and might of our Savior is essential for the Christian. Do not take me as saying we should never look at the sin we were in and the sin we are in right now. We cannot adequately praise God for our deliverance if we do not see the truth of our wickedness.

Yet, the truth of our wickedness should never eclipse the truth of God conquest over the sin in us. We should see God's work in us today and praise Him for it. If we do not behold the righteousness that is coming from us because of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we do not praise God adequately either! We miss the wonderful work He is doing in our sanctification. We should purpose to see the obedience coming from our heart to bring praise to our Lord for His work in us.

This is not a call to see good things coming from us for the purpose of building ourselves up. The reason we should see the righteousness coming from us is to praise the God that gives the righteousness. We do this so that we praise God for all aspects of salvation. From election to glorification and every thing in between. Let us not miss the greatness, mercy, and glory of God is our sanctification.