Supporting Intentional Sanctification
Dear Friends & Family,
The collection of people I have invited to this new blog is a force to be reckoned with!! Every one of you is fearfully and wonderfully made, and I know, if we all got in to a room together, we could do some damage - good damage! Create a stir, mix things up, take on a challenge, push beyond comfort into that place called real life. Not the life of careers, family, shopping, cooking, driving, but the life of truth, emotion, conviction, forgiveness, and most scary of all - sanctification!
This blog has come about after a long time of studying God's Word, listening to Him, paying attention to what He wants, and seeing the world around us struggling. Struggling with some of the most basic truths of life- 'why are we here?' This question ought to be answered by every Cristian without a second thought. But Christians struggle with even this basic premise. Some answers might be "to raise our children in a Godly way" "to share the gospel message" "to feed the poor" "to heal the sick" - and while all of these things are good, if we are to take one command from scripture, above all else, it is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). In fact, Jesus said "This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:38). Nothing matters more than this ~ nothing! And nothing shows our love for God better than a persistent, battle-worthy effort in our own sanctification. That is, as we grow in our likeness of Christ in our character, our thoughts, our motivations, and our actions, we become sanctified and our worship and adoration of God becomes purer, deeper, more genuine. We become undone, while He becomes glorified.
This blog and website has one purpose: to help you in your sanctification process, using God's word, wisdom and grace. Updates will be posted every 10 days or so, and each will tackle some aspect of sanctification and authenticity. Challenging questions will be posed that are designed for reflection. The intent is for you to sit with God as you ask Him for revelation about the issue in a way that is unique to you. No one else has the same race to run, and no one can run your race for you - it's between you and your God. These will not be quick answer questions; they will be deep-rooted issues that require time to process, and may even bring about a cascade of activities between yourself and God ~ our God who draws nearer to us, as we draw nearer to Him (James 4:8).
Perhaps the reflection for this week is to consider who might benefit from encouragement in sanctification and invite them to join by sharing this link with them. (If you received this email from a friend other than Andrea, please subscribe below and I'll add you to the list also!)
God bless you all as we take this journey together - for His name's sake!
Andrea
