Participating in the sanctification process.
When I read Romans 8:15-17, our scripture of interest, I start thinking about sanctification. I think about the process of becoming Christ-like and my role in that. What does it mean to be adopted? What does it mean to be grafted into the family of God? Why would God even want to adopt me?
As you might have noticed, I like to ask a lot of questions. I will attempt to answer some of the questions myself and leave room for you to ponder others for yourself.
In the previous article concerning our restoration theme, I highlighted God’s greatest desire and purpose for restoration which is to redeem us to Himself. He has a relentless desire for people to have a heart that is loyal to Him. His commitment is restoring our hearts so that we may worship Him in spirit and in truth (John4:24), because our hearts are above all else deceitfully wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). I spoke about regeneration – a divine work of the Holy Spirit to transform and overcome our hard rebellious hearts (Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26;) so that we might believe and have faith in Him.
We also looked at justification and how we get to be justified by our faith in Jesus. His righteousness is accredited to us as we take daily steps of faith towards the things revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God (James 1:18). This is how, I believe, we get to be sons and daughters of God. It’s an incredibly generous invitation to everyone. A peculiar one even, because before this (the invitation or gift of salvation) you are considered an enemy. An enemy He intentionally pursues so that He may call a child of God. This alone is an article for another day!
So, if God has and is pursuing us, and Jesus died for us so that we are made right with God, and the Holy Spirit is transforming us… What is our role? How are we to respond? How do we participate in the process of becoming children of God?
Faith.
You need to possess the faith that you profess to have. I think faith is the key requirement that God asks of us in all we do. It’s the thing that unlocks everything. Without it, it is impossible to please Him. We receive Him by faith. We respond to Him by faith. We continue to respond to what is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through his Word in FAITH. I believe this is how we are justified. It takes walking in faith to grab hold of the identity bestowed upon us by God. I always look at the life of Paul and his ministry. I think it took a lot of faith to take the Gospel to the Gentiles despite many oppositions and challenges. That’s why he could say, in the end, that he fought a good fight of faith (2 Timothy 4:7). He actively participated in his process of becoming through faith.
Meditating on the scriptures.
This not only builds faith, but it serves to cleanse and wash us. This is what the Holy Spirit uses to sanctify us. It is through the Word that we are born and made children of God (Ephesians 5: 26, John 15: 3, John 17:17). I recently felt challenged by the Holy Spirit to start memorising books of the Bible. I’m still a beginner on this journey but I believe that it will bear fruit. Psalm 119: 11 reminds us to hide God’s word in our heart so that we may not sin against Him. Meditating and memorising so that we may grow in our knowledge of Him.
Submission.
I think this is a simple one, yet it is hard to practice. It’s a good thing we serve a patient God. We need to affirm the word of God by obeying it. Replace old beliefs with new ones. This is what being sons and daughters of God is all about. We need to surrender to His will and His word so that we are transformed and the road to becoming bears great fruit.
Written by Yolanda Magida, Superbook Manager
