Thoughts On Sanctification

I was online and saw a bracelet that cost $40. I wanted it, but I didn’t want to spend that much. 

I’ll just make it myself.

I made a checklist, went down to 28th Street in Grand Rapids, and walked out with a few tools and a side of leather, spending close to $200. Remember, the bracelet was $40. I can make a bunch of these and sell them, I thought.

I never did perfect those bracelets, but I did fall in love with leatherwork. That was ten years ago.

When I started, I assumed the right tools would make my work better. Over the years, I’ve collected many of them. They haven’t magically improved my work, but they have made the process more enjoyable. What has improved my work is going back to the workbench. Making the same thing over and over and succeeding some of the time. I have a box full of mistakes and an Instagram account full of what I consider successes.

At church, we often use the word "sanctification." Sometimes we assume everyone knows what it means. Sanctification is both a one-time setting apart to God in salvation and a lifelong process of becoming more like Christ.

Sometimes we treat spiritual growth the way I treated leatherwork. If I just had the right tools — better relationships, another conference, the right book — then I would grow. These are helpful and make the work more enjoyable, but growth in holiness doesn’t look like that. It looks more like a factory worker who shows up day after day, doing the same thing until they become an expert at their job. It looks like starting over, again.

For every Christlike habit formed, there is a big box of failures. Because God is good he uses our failures to educate us. 

Growth in holiness is rarely one great triumph. More often, it is repentance, fresh starts, and a desire to become like our dear Lord.

Bless you, 

Pastor.