Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
I know of God’s overwhelming goodness, yet my heart and mind get weighed down. I feel heavy and scared, somehow holding the knowledge of God’s faithfulness and love in one hand and my sin patterns and desires in another. Both demand my heart. Neither can coexist. When that happens, my hands need to come together.
As we bring our brokenness to God, He does what we can’t. He works in our hearts on our behalf. He is the light that dispels the darkness. He is our strength and peace. There is no room for anything in Him, and that battle between our will and His becomes quieter.
When God calls us to lay down our lives, He isn’t asking us to do it. By His Spirit, He is giving us the willing heart to surrender and causes the very change needed, through sanctification. God asks us to recognize ourselves as sinful and our ways as broken. In that, we are called to a life of humility and transformation.
For you and your unique journey, it could be a daily recognition of sinfulness and submission. Maybe you have ingrained patterns as I do, and it feels like every few minutes you catch yourself losing sight of the cross. It’s okay – God provides the will and the means for change. God placed friends around me to hold me accountable, like guardrails to alert me that I am headed off the road. It’s really not about the method used – there are many creative ways – but that you come to trust that, “He who calls you is faithful; He will do it.”