Read Philippians 2:12-13
Baptism initiates a lifelong process. The solid line in Figure 1 represents the holy standard God holds for you. The broken line below it represents your life without Christ, far below God's standard (Romans 3:23).
Your brokenâ€line life was bridged to God's standard by the
cross of Christ (Figure 2). Through Jesus, your lifeâ€line is now
solid. Christ justified you and made
you holy. To be "justified" means
you can say, “I’m ‘justâ€ifâ€I'd’ never
sinned before.†God now sees you
as holy as Jesus Christ Himself (He
is crossâ€eyed about you!). Through
Jesus, no matter what you've done
or do, God sees you as perfect (2
Corinthians 5:21). Being a Christian is like being pregnant—either
you are or you are not. There are no partlyâ€pregnant women and
no maybe Christians.
Even though God sees you as perfect, your dayâ€toâ€day life
still falls short of the holiness Christ gave you. Some moments
you will overcome many of life's temptations and others you will
find yourself asking God for forgiveness over and over again (1
John 1:8â€9). The brokenâ€line in Figure 3 displays the process of
upsâ€andâ€downs in your everyday experience. This process is
called sanctification. Each day you
are being made as holy in your
experience as you already are in
God's sight. Whether you are
having an upâ€day or a downâ€day,
never look at the brokenâ€line, or
your daily experience, to know how
much God loves you.
Look to the solid line, or God’s promise, given to you through
the cross, for assurance that you are loved by God (Romans 7:24â€
25). Consider the A in Figure 4 as a victory and the B as a failure.
What temptation might you
struggle against on an Aâ€day? What
temptation might you struggle
against on a Bâ€day? If you look at
yourself on an Aâ€day, you may be
tempted to think you are a pretty
amazing Christâ€follower and forget
your need for God's grace (1 Corinthians 10:12). On a Bâ€day, you
may doubt whether or not God can accept a "sinner" like you –
similarly forgetting the wonder of God's grace (Romans 5:8).
Never look at yourself to measure whether God loves you and
accepts you. Always look to what Jesus has given you through
the cross for assurance of your standing with God. Jesus is your
only solid lifeâ€line (Galatians 2:20â€21).
Justification is a onetime event—when you are 100% saved
(1 Peter 3:18)—ALREADY. Sanctification is the result of being
justified and is a lifeâ€long process of working out the holiness
God has worked into you through Jesus, but you don’t live it out
perfectly—NOT YET. Eventually,
when Jesus comes back, or you die
and go to heaven (whichever comes
first), you will be glorified,
illustrated by the sun in Figure 5 (1
Thessalonians 4:17; 1 John 3:2). You
will no longer struggle with sin.
Your brokenâ€line life will merge
with the solidâ€line given to you by God. You will experience
perfection rather than only possess it by faith.