In my Quiet Time this morning I read through John 18. It made me realize that In order for the truth of the Gospel to take root in our hearts, we must receive it like a child. We must believe God the "Truth Giver" and humble ourselves to the life giving message that God has communicated to us. This must be a continual process of transformation.
Transformation involves more than a moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth. It is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing our lives more and more under the influences of the new principles placed in the soul at salvation. In other words, sanctification is the process of perfecting the work begun at salvation, and it extends to the whole man. It is the special function of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry on this work. Faith is instrumental in securing sanctification. It also secures union to Christ, and brings the believer into living contact with the truth, where he is led to yield to obedience and to embrace the promises of God for this life and that which is to come.
Perfect transformation is not attainable in this life. “The more holy a man is, the more humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject to the constant chastisement of their Father’s loving hand, which can only be designed to correct their imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment of perfection for themselves.” (Hodge’s Outlines). Ask God to show you areas of you life that need to be surrendered and transformed.
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