By Pastor Chad
I do not have a green thumb. In fact, I can’t even get my lawn to look nice. A healthy lawn requires constant care and nourishment, along with the proper kind of cultivation. If a lawn is unattended or uncared for, it either grows wild or dies. In the same way, our spiritual lives must also be cared for, nourished, and cultivated. This is the process in the stage of our salvation known as sanctification. Sanctification is simply the God-given power of being made more and more into the image of Christ.
Unlike regeneration and justification, we have a part to play in sanctification. In this stage of our salvation, we cooperate with God’s grace to grow in our faith. This cooperation displays itself in several ways. For one, sanctification is not simply about doing things, it is also about abstaining from those activities that can disrupt our spiritual lives. For example, refraining from slander and gossip doesn’t require one to take any action. It simply involves…keeping our mouths shut (to put it bluntly).
But there are certain spiritual activities that we can do to help us grow in the Lord. These activities are known as spiritual disciplines or spiritual exercises. Though there really isn’t an exhaustive list of spiritual disciplines, there are some key ones we read about in Scripture. For example, prayer is a spiritual discipline. Prayer is simply communicating with God. But in this process, God uses this discipline to mold us into the image of His Son. Scripture reading, church attendance, singing spiritual songs, serving, listening to biblical preaching and teaching, reading God-honoring books, giving, silence, solitude, and scriptural meditation are also valuable spiritual exercises that cultivate and nourish our souls.
As you can probably see, this stage of salvation is very different from regeneration and justification because sanctification is not a one time event–it is a lifelong, continuous striving to be holy. Make no mistake, it is mostly God doing the work in you. In fact, if it wasn’t for God’s grace, it would be impossible for one to grow in the Lord. But that doesn’t mean it is easy. Sometimes, sanctification is hard, but it is always worth it. Furthermore, sanctification is not something that is a quick transformation. Many times it is a slow, arduous process. In the end, however, it is a beautiful means by which God shapes and molds us into what He saved us to be: vessels for His glory.