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We are all on a path aren’t we? We’re all headed somewhere, and as ministers we are given the challenge of leading our sheep down a path while also providing them with what they need to reach their destination.  There are a lot of different viewpoints on what exactly people need to survive their journey of faith. Different churches certainly have different methods, but we can all agree on one thing. It is not sufficient to lead people to begin the journey and then leave them to fend for themselves the rest of the way.

In bringing people to Christ there is a responsibility to create environments so that they can determine their next step on the path in order to continue in the right direction. I’m not just talking about helping people figure out if they’re ready to serve in the local church or join a community group. These are all legitimate avenues to our ultimate goal, but what we truly seek for our people is sanctification. God will do His part; the gospel call, regeneration, justification, and conversion. These events occur at the beginning of our Christian lives. However, Grudem defines sanctification as a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.

I love the word progressive here. There is a daily growing into the image of Christ, and being separated as holy unto the Lord that must occur for every believer. Over the next few days I want to look closer at sanctification, and how we can encourage believers to seek holiness over happiness.