When we are navigating the Sanctification a road, we are patiently changing our characters to be more like God’s. This daily devotional looks at patiently bringing into clearer focus being holy, pure, and righteous to be unified to glorify God.
Nuggets
- Endurance and encouragement can only come from God when we live our lives imitating Jesus and loving one another.
- We have one job as a unified body — glorify God.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Transformed to Perfection series
Okay. Back on track.
Paul was still talking about unity. He was looking at it now, though, through the lens of patience and endurance.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Bringing It into Focus
“Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus” (Rom. 15: 5 CSB)
Endurance and encouragement can only come from God when we live our lives imitating Jesus and loving one another.
Thomas made an interesting statement. He wrote, “Where there is nothing to try the temper there can be no patience.”
Resource
I know that is kind of a duh statement, but think about it. (At least I admit it!)
Little kids aren’t usually born with a whole lot of patience. When they are hungry, they let you know it — usually loudly — and consistently if you ignore them.
When they start interacting with other kids, sharing becomes an issues. True, a lot of that is possessiveness, but some of that is patience at waiting our turn.
The point is, we have to learn patience. It has to come from somewhere.
It comes from God.
Thomas got it right when he said patience was a feeling. To me, that is what we feel for others.
Endurance is a synonym for patience, but I think it is more than that. To me, it is the ability to stick with something. Paul-speak is to stay with the course.
We need the ability to suffer without getting upset to be able to stick with the course until the end.
I must be in the minority, though. All the sermons I am reading are sticking with patience.
Ooo, baby. Kollock called the nature of patience “… a modification of the Divine goodness. While goodness respects all creatures, patience has as its object only the sinner.”
Resource
Brain blip. I have to work through that one.
God’s goodness is His holy, pure, and righteous behavior.
- Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
Kollock said that patience is a clarifying of holy, pure, and righteous. I see it as a bringing it into clearer focus.
Don’t for one second think modification means chucking God’s goodness so we can compromise with the worldview. Compromising God’s goodness would mean compromising God’s holiness, purity, and righteousness — meaning we would have the stain of sin because we would not be following God’s moral laws.
Can’t do that.
Paul said the patience came from knowledge. We jump to us knowing more about God.
We gloss over the fact that God knows every one of our sins. Because of Jesus and the fact that we have accepted Him as our Savior and Redeemer, He forgives us of those sins.
• Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
• Forgiveness is, when we ask, God pardons us because we have shown repentance for breaking His laws and commandments.
God can do that because He has the covenant with Jesus — forever.
Glossary
The end game for all of this is still unity. That isn’t going to change because we are to be like minded with Jesus. Jesus isn’t going to change because He has God’s character.
Yep, it snakes its way back to character. Imitating Jesus means we have His character. It takes patience and endurance to build it because that is what we are doing on the Sanctification Road.
• Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration, gradually changes our nature through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
• Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal requickening in us that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
• Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
• The perfected state indicates the combination of the spiritual graces which, when all are present, form spiritual wholeness or completeness.
• Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
That is what the transformation is about.
Glorifying God as a Unified Body
“so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice” (Rom. 15: 6 CSB).
We have one job as a unified body — glorify God.
Time out! How do we glorify God? We glorify God when we use what we learn from seeking Him to change our words and actions in order to obey and praise Him.
Salter noted that it might seem like a tall order for us to accomplish. He wrote, “But the perfect Christian may be compared to a perfect mirror, which, though dark and opaque of itself, being placed before the sun reflects his whole image, and may be said to increase his glory by increasing and scattering his light.”
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It isn’t about us. It is about God and reflecting Him — scattering His light.
If it isn’t about us, it isn’t about how far we are away from Him. We just talked about that not long ago. It isn’t how far — it is whether our nose is in the right direction.
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
We said that God wants us to continually choose Him, even when we are feeling guilty for sinning against Him.
Let’s go back a second to scattering light. This doesn’t mean running in terror. This means bursting forth in shining glory.
How many verses now have we been talking unity? God’s children are to worship Him by living united in believing in Him and raising their voices in worship.
Making the Connections
What flitted through my mind when we were going through this was direction, not distance, was another way of looking at the weak/strong issue. Think about the devotions we just had on this.
- People are very important to God. Whether they are a strong disciple or a weak disciple today isn’t how He sees them. He sees them as perfected (How to Promote Peace).
- Yes, we may be weak, but we are as God made us. Yes, we may we strong, but we may be fall into temptation and lose our way (How to Promote Peace).
- It is our duty as a disciple to help our fellow disciples in their walks and not cause them to stumble (Living in Faith and Love).
- The strong need to help the weak by being a good example to them. Don’t just bite on them. Show them better. Help them to be better (Who Do We Please?).
- Paul told us we have to make a conscious decision to give up what pleases us and please others (Who Do We Please?).
- Paul was only talking to the strong. He didn’t say a word to the weak. He didn’t say sign up for strength training. He didn’t call them second-class citizens (Who Do We Please?).
- Every Tom. Every Sally. Every Elaine. No one is exempt from pleasing the neighbor. Neighbor meant everyone else. No one is exempt here, either. No one is given a pass (Who Do We Please?).
- The strong are commanded to build up the weak here — teach the one who is weaker in the faith (Who Do We Please?).
- Think back to what we we talked about in Chapter 14. Lead with love. Don’t judge. Here, we are adding tolerate another disciple’s weaknesses, encourage them, and seek their strengths (Who Do We Please?).
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
We like to pat ourselves on the back and say we are doing so much better in our walk than Tom, Sally, or Elaine. We can’t compare. It isn’t right to judge.
God just wants us to be where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to be doing, learning what we are supposed to be learning. He wants us to be navigating the Sanctification Road on His plan, not our own.
How Do We Apply This?
The best thing to do is to seek God. It always comes back to that.
But then, isn’t that everything? Praying? Reading His Word? Studying it? Really applying it to our lives.
Searching for and Seeking God
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
God wants us to succeed.
Father God. You are patient with us. You encourage us. You want us to succeed. You call us to be patient and endure. You call us to unity and to encourage each other. You call us to glorify You. We praise Your name, Father. Amen.
What do you think?
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