Reflection: Sanctification

There is always another step to travel while experiencing the love of God.  Each and every ordinary day is valuable to us and for us in the eyes of Jesus Christ, who slowly reveals more of his heart and his way of living to us, almost like an artist painting a picture in front of us (slowly, we see it come together).  As I continue to read the Bible, as I continue to study more and more about how Jesus' teachings should impact us ethically, the more inadequate I feel to receive God's grace, mercy, and love.  A passage that has haunted me for years continues to keep coming back and haunt me as I study: Luke 6:46, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,; and do not do what I tell you?"

"What is causing these feelings?" I hear someone asking.  Right now I am in the midst of studying a list of historical, theological, and practical (ethical) books that are distinctly Anabaptist as I work towards ordination.  I have just finished Donald Kraybill's The Upside-Down Kingdom and, while I have heard most of what was in the book before, it has hit me with extra force for whatever reason this time I have read it.  A second factor is the distinct preaching emphasis of Greg Boyd over at Woodland Hills Church concerning the Cruciform nature of God's love (God as always exhibiting self-sacrificing love in how God interacts with the universe).    

As I struggle with putting these two concepts (living for Jesus and responding with the same self-sacrificing love that God has revealed) together in my own life, I continually come back to these two things: what am I doing with my free time and what am I doing with my money?  I confess, I do not think I serve enough in my free time and haven't found the correct balance between work/play/and sacrificial love in service.  Second, I haven't simplified my life enough to be more generous with my financial giving.  My heart cries out for the poor, here and across the seas. 

This I think is part of the struggle expected in sanctification, or the process of becoming more Christ-like through God's formation of us and our response to God's love.  God slowly and overtime shows us where we need to go next.  The question becomes, "how will I respond?"  My return cry is always the same: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner!  Teach me in your everlasting patience your way, for I am stupid and ignorant at heart."