Sunday Leftovers (1/14/07)

It has been said that “the trouble with life is that it’s so daily.” Most of us identify well with that statement.

Daily-ness is not only the trouble with life; it is also the “trouble” with the spiritual life (it’s what makes the spiritual life difficult). We desire a sanctification that is instant and complete, but that kind of spiritual maturity is nonexistent. Instead, God has designed our sanctification to be progressive — to be a daily, moment-by-moment reminder that we are always dependent on Him for all our life.

As you think about your spiritual life this year, consider two complementary truths:

• see everything you do as an opportunity to grow in your dependence on (and love for) Christ.
• remember that for all you do to grow in Him, at the end of this year, you will not be fully perfected.

Everything that is part of our life is an opportunity to trust Christ and grow in fellowship with Him and moved forward in our sanctification. So paying bills and shopping for shoes and praying with children at night and praying alone in the morning and reading the newspaper and drinking orange juice and taking out the garbage every evening and calling a friend and getting your hair cut and commuting to work and listening to the radio and surfing the internet and writing thank you notes and preparing for Sunday worship on Saturday and then worshipping on Sunday and taking a nap and riding your bike and confessing your sin to your mate and forgiving an offense, and preparing a meal for a sick member of the congregation whom you don’t know and mowing your lawn — everything we do is an opportunity to trust Christ and grow in fellowship with Him. So see your life not as a series of disjointed events, but as a tapestry woven by Christ on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis to produce a life that is increasingly devoted to Him and satisfied with Him.

And then with that also remember that while you grow in Him, you will not be absolutely perfected until you reach glory (what a great day that will be!). So in that sense, the goal is growth, not perfection (we strive to live in all ways to the glory of God, but recognize that because of our fleshly bodies, we will not attain that on earth). When you fail, confess your sin, and thank God for the work of Christ on your behalf — the work that brought you to salvation, and continues to work that salvation in your life all day, every day.