A little while ago I wrote an article titled The Gentle Disposition of Christ, explaining Who Christ is in the deepest part of Himself, His heart. Today, I’d like to draw on that same idea and explain Who Christ is in our own hearts, and what that looks like.
“Sanctification” isn’t a common term today, and it’s a touchy and complex one. So let me be completely clear; In this post I will not be talking at all about John Calvin’s view on sanctification, or the Pentecostal holiness model, or the fundamentalist model, among many others, but instead I will draw only from what the Scriptures say about it (which is a lot less complicated than we make it out to be).
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” - 1 Thessalonians 4:3
Let me put simply what sanctification is:
When we invite Jesus into our hearts, we’re also surrendering ourselves over to Him. We’re giving up that empty space we had and allowing Him to fill it up and overflow it. You may have heard the phrase “we become like what we behold”. As we walk with Christ, experience Him, allow Him to work and fill us up, we do not remain stagnant. After a while we become a (very flawed and imperfect) reflection of Him. He changes the core of who we are, a change both internal and external. He changes our natural posture of heart from one that is prideful, spiteful, angry, and bitter, into one like His- gentle and lowly.
Simply put- sanctification is becoming like Christ, the One we behold. It is becoming someone not of this world, but someone set apart from it entirely. It is the will of God that we are changed by Him. I feel like sometimes we surrender a lot in prayer but change very little, which shows how little we’re actually surrendering.
Let me expand on that by using a made-up example.
Imagine I’m praying about anxiety over a math test, because I’m right on the edge of getting a C. I ask that my nervousness be met with His peace, and I recognize that in order for that to happen I need to surrender the anxiety so He can work to heal it. I need to have faith, and let go of the white-knuckled grasp I have on the evil, anxious thoughts that work to steal, kill, and destroy that faith. And so I pray, I surrender. Maybe for that split second I do, but the moment I say amen I pick it back up again.
I feel like a lot of us do this. We say we surrender, but then we pick up the heavy burden again, instead of actually allowing Christ to work to change our hearts.
Here’s what I’m trying to say- in order for the Spirit to shape our hearts to look like the gentle and lowly heart inside Christ (sanctification), we have to surrender that heart in the first place. There's free will that takes place. Jesus never forced people to believe in Him, and He definitely never forced people to become like Him, either. Otherwise, many more people (or perhaps even everyone on the planet) would have followed Him because they had no choice. That is absolutely not the Christ we read about in Scripture.
We need to purposefully and prayerfully surrender our hearts. And here’s the hard part- we have to keep surrendering. Keep denying ourselves. Keep resisting the urge to pick back up the burden we already laid at His feet. Long enough for Him to truly change us, and even more, for us to truly experience the goodness of His heart.
So I say to all the followers of Christ who feel like they’re not growing in their faith, ask yourself and pray about this- Am I really surrendering and beholding the heart of Christ in a way that His Spirit is undoubtedly working to change me? Am I becoming someone with a gentle and lowly heart similar to the Lord’s, or am I on another path entirely?
Let me be clear. I am not trying to scare anyone, but it is my hope that these words convict you and remind you that, as I say all the time, we are not a stagnant creation. We are built for change. We’re always becoming something, but the question is, who are we becoming? The answer is often found in who we are choosing to focus on and behold. To return to the short verse I quoted above, it is the will of God that we become like Him. In order to do so, we have to choose Him, surrender to Him, and behold Him. This is what leads to true change in the posture of our heart.
We are led astray incredibly easily, and we’re also incredibly forgetful. That’s why it's vital we don’t stop. Don’t stop surrendering, denying, loving, fighting, beholding. Because we never stop becoming. Let it be His Spirit who shapes that becoming.
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