The Power of Threes
Sin, suffering, and sanctification in the life of a Christian.
Recently, as I studied to teach my Sunday school class, it occurred to me that I have been learning some lessons in threes. I was looking at sin, suffering, and sanctification in the life of a Christian……ahhhh those all begin with an “S” I thought, but maybe more importantly than that, all bring us closer to Christ. Let me explain……
When we give our lives to Christ and accept Him as Savior, we are saved from the power sin has over our lives, but we still sin. Because we have the Holy Spirit we cannot just flippantly live in sin. The Spirit convicts us that we are not living in righteousness and if we are obedient, we eventually lean into our relationship with Christ and confess our sin. Sin in this way leads us back to Jesus and a reliance on Him to keep us from sinning. In this way we grow closer to Him as we rely on Him. How has your sin brought you closer to Christ?
Suffering……suffering is a hard one to swallow for me. Suffering is great in our world right now. Some people suffer because of the decisions they make, and some people suffer because of a decision someone else makes and some people suffer for no explanation other than we live in a broken messed up world. Seeing someone suffer is hard and suffering ourselves is hard, but as I study the book of Acts, I realize that suffering was what God used to bring those into a closer relationship with Him. It seemed to solidify their resolve to Praise Him in all circumstances (Psalm 34:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). In what ways has your suffering or the suffering of someone you know brought you closer to Christ?
Sanctification is a process where believers become more like Christ. Our thoughts, words and actions reflect His character. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to help us grow in maturity and reflect more of His image. I will stress it’s a process. I will also say my sanctification will not look the same as yours, basically because we all are individuals and have different lives, obstacles of sin to overcome and sufferings we go through. The irony of it for me is that God uses our sins and sufferings to grow our faith and become more like Jesus (sanctification). Sometimes I am better at this and cooperate with The Spirit and sometimes I grow dragging my feet kicking and screaming. How has God used your sin and sufferings to sanctify you more to be like Jesus?
I honestly do not know a single person at this moment in history that isn’t facing an obstacle. My prayer list for my friends and family is huge. God never promised an easy path. In fact there is much to say about trials (John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 4:6-10, 1 Peter 4:6-10, James 1:2-4, 1 Thessalonians 5:18). What He did promise though was His Peace, His Power, and His Presence through our trials and sufferings.
May we all experience His supernatural Peace, Power, and Presence as we grow to be more like Him.
