A Sapling of Sanctification

Over the past few weeks, there have been two things that I think I've seen progress in my spiritual walk which I'm proud of and am quite surprised by as well.

Singleness
A few weeks back, I wrote a post on how singleness is not to be seen as a curse, but as a gift. You can read that HERE. Since then, I think my mentality towards singleness has been transforming, and i've been able to truly embrace this gift (or perhaps this stage of life in this moment in time). I've been able to see from a much more positive lens, all the benefits, such as complete and undivided devotion to God. It's quite freeing to think that i'm able to do whatever I want and can for the LORD without anything holding me back. I think I can say for the most of it that I am quite content with my singleness. Praise God!

Speaking From The Word
Thinking back on the past year or so, i've always admired those individuals who could just pull bible verses out of their head like the multiplication table, and i've aspired to be able to get to such a stage. Especially in times when i'm giving advice, my thoughts or opinion, I would much rather quote from the truth, the book of life rather than whatever I can think of in my head. Would you rather receive advice and truth from the Everlasting and Almighty Father, or from just a limited human being? How much more encouraging is it to be spoken to from the Word of Life?! To be quite honest, I didn't really have an action plan when it came to building this, but I think with the bible studies, sermons and my own bible readings, the Holy Spirit has been able to help me speak from the Word a lot more. When encouraging friends, i'm able to recall certain passages that speak towards the subject, when rebuking or sharing, I'm able to pull out an example from scripture to support my point of view. I still haven't been able to get to the point of word-for-word recitation, but I'm very thankful and surprised to see these words come out of me like that. Glory to God! I encourage us all to continue or start to memorize scripture, or at least desire and build to be more familiar with it. It keeps us from sinning, it helps us remember Christ and his work, and meditating on it gives us life!

Now with progress, there's always more to improve on as I continue down this path called sanctification. Looking ahead, I've thought of two things I want to work on, although quite vague, but the first is to strive for holiness.

Holiness
"The destined end of man is not happiness, nor heath, but holiness." - Oswald Chambers

Today's sermon focused on Hebrews 12:1-3 which says,

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." 

God has given us a race to finish, and to finish at our best, we must run efficiently, not to be held down by anything, especially the sin that entangles and trips us up. I'm sure there are plenty of distractions that are steering us away from the goal that is Christ, but as the passage says, throw it off! We are not only discarding it, but we are to fix our eyes on Jesus Christ at the same time. He himself ran a race too, and it tells us that he was motivated by joy; he knew that he would one day join the presence of God and because of this motivation, he endured the cross, the shame and sat at the right hand of God.

Trials will come as we run. "when we say "no" to temptation, there must be something better we say "yes" to". I love this statement, but I do think that I struggle with fully seeing Christ as better to say yes to than certain temptations. It's tough, He is unseen, the reward is not immediate, whilst other things are the opposite. My prayer is that Christ would transform my mind that I would see, know and embrace how much greater Christ is compared to all the meaningless things of this world.

Philippians 2:12-13 tells us to "work out our salvation" and the speaker used a analogy I really liked. He noted that it said to work OUT and not work FOR our salvation. In the same way when we work out at the gym, we are not exercising FOR muscles, but because we already have muscles and you work it out so they can grow. I'll keep this in mind the next time I hit the gym! We have already received our salvation, but we want to grow as we run this race.

Discipleship
The second is that I want to be more intentional with discipleship, the process of training and building others up to further their growth and walk with Christ, to help one be continually changed by Jesus and to encourage and challenge others to do His mission. To be honest, when I think about it, I question what discipleship really looks like, and with my logistically-wired mind, I'm always seeking out a formulaic procedure, even though sometimes that isn't the right way to look at it. It'd probably be a good idea for me to review the Gospel Centered Discipleship (Jonathon Dodson) series I did a year or two ago, you can find that HERE if you wanted to check it out. Regardless, I think first and foremost, it starts with me. I have to be leading a life that is right with God, and I have to setting an example of faith before I can even think of discipling another person. Not that I have to be perfect, but I have to be actively working out my salvation as well.

If you could, please keep me in prayer! I'm excited to see where the LORD takes me next. Thanks for following me on this journey, I definitely encourage you to spend time reflecting on your walk as well!