One of the songs we have been working to learn at our church has a chorus that starts off,
“Give us clean hands,
Give us pure hearts;
Let us not lift our souls to another.”
The point of the song is to call us to a life of dedicated service to God. It is calling for the discipline of a lifetime. That is a good insight into the Christian life.
If you attend an evangelical church or have ever been to what is called a revival, you have seen people who will make a decision in a moment. This often involves a public action or statement and can be very emotional. It can be genuine or total emotion. Only time will tell.
Most people who “go forward” don’t stick with it. They either drift away when the moment fades or throw up their hands and say, “Enough.”
Our common culture is into fast food, quick fixes and hour dramas. We have short attention spans and want it now because we may not remember what it was in a few minutes. To our culture the call to salvation is like the drive-through when we are on the road. It gives us satisfaction now. It feeds a hunger that we feel. This is the grace that comes through salvation. It has many aspects such as justification and regeneration.
Our common culture tends to teach us to reject the tedium of sanctification. In Bible terms, sanctification means a life juxtapositioned to the common standards of our culture. For most Christian traditions it is the process of working out the ingrained habits and responses. Although there is an instantaneous aspect of sanctification the part that is often ignored is the life long learning of discipline. Sanctification is usually one step at a time. It is tedious. It never stops.
People tend to like the idea of being saved. It is exciting to sing, “Jesus is a wonderful savior.” People tend to reject sanctification. It means that we need to sing, “He is Lord.” As Americans, as humans, we don’t like the idea of someone lording it over us. We want to do our own thing.
Being a Christian is not a moment of emotion. It is not an occasional visit to church. It is not wearing a cross around your neck. It is a transformation that begins in a moment and continues for eternity.
I pray that you will take the first step and keep stepping.
Grace and peace.
homo unius libri
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