Then, lest perhaps we should labour without fruit, let us take pains to be freed from our vices by God's help, that thereafter we can be adorned with virtues.

  - Columbanus, Sermon II (Irish, 7th century)

...put off your old self...put on the new self...

  - Ephesians 4.22, 24

Every believer in Jesus Christ is involved in a journey of sanctification - becoming more like the Lord in all our ways. The process is fairly straightforward: Put off the old self, as the Spirit, working with the Word, shows us our sin and calls us to repent. Then put on the new self as the Spirit reveals the righteousness of Christ and makes us willing and able to please Him in all our ways.

Putting off, putting on. It's a continuous process and one that should lead to us making progress in becoming more like Jesus. This is a work of God and His grace, as both Paul and Columbanus agree. But they also agree that we must "take pains" in this process to "work out our salvation in fear and trembling" (Phil. 2.12). What does this entail?

Three things: First, growing clarity with respect to our vision of unseen things. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11.1). In that unseen realm Christ rules as King, saints surround God's throne to praise and adore Him, and angels rush to and fro doing the bidding of the Lord on our behalf. The unseen realm is real, and the clearer our vision of it, the firmer will be our footing on this our native soil.

Second, we must take up a disciplined life, gaining control of our time, passions, thoughts, and priorities so that we bend them toward becoming like Jesus and glorifying God in every area of our lives. We cannot grow in our sanctification without an active and ongoing work of discipline to help us gain the clarity of unseen things and process that vision into our lives.

Finally, we need to take up the practices characteristic of the life of holiness and love. There is no room in a sanctified life for secret sins or blatant acts of disobedience. We cannot put on Jesus over the dying corpse of sin to which we continue to cling. Here there is no substitute for daily meditation in God's Law and growing familiarity with all His Word.

Sanctification is our calling and our primary work as followers of Jesus. From the life of sanctification all our service, mission, and love for God and neighbors issue. If we do not "take pains" in this matter, we will be hard-pressed to make progress in our walk with the Lord, and the joy and power of our salvation will continue to elude us.

To follow Jesus is to work at sanctification. But what a glorious and altogether satisfying work it is!

T. M. Moore, Principal

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