ChristAliveHere.com
Spiritual Growth, Devotion & Sanctification
What is Devotion?
Devotion refers to a dedication to a spiritual discipline or practice. It is how we experience God's presence in our lives at various times, for example in joyful moments and even in sadness or grief. Most people are not comfortable calling themselves holy or even devoted, so many refer to themselves as spiritually-oriented, enlightened, or reflective.
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Christians speak of their faith walk or their journey with Jesus. And others want to become devoted disciples of Jesus Christ or evangelists .
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Devotionals
Spiritually-oriented books help us in our spiritual travels. Some are referred to as devotionals, meditation or inspirational books. Some notable examples are: The Imitation of Christ, Jesus Calling,
Other works are longer and focus on more limited subject matter, for example, The Case for Christ, Mere Christianity, Knowing God, The Purpose Driven Life, Wild at Heart, and many others. These longer works are not usually referred to as devotionals although reading them will almost certainly enhance your spiritual life: See descriptions of some of these books.
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One of the ways we make ourselves more open to Christ and his grace is by reading and/or writing brief pieces, for example, journal entries that describe our experiences, the challenges we and others face in our faith walks, and inspirations we have that lift us up from the daily routines to think about God and what he is calling us to. If you wish to share some of your writings you may do so by subscribing and submitting them to the editor for possible publication on this site.
NOTE: The website has a whole section composed entirely of "Christ Alive Here (CAH) Devotionals" written by the editor as part of his ministry in his church community and this website. A list of these devotionals is in the upper right hand panel of this page.
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Sanctification
"They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." John 17:17-18
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Believers are "in sanctification" when they are born again in God and in this sense are separated into God’s presence in a special way. The words righteousness, sanctification and redemption are often used synonymously. This rebirth is an action of Jesus Christ and for Christians, this new status or position is referred to as being saved. Before people are baptized they are asked if they are willing to follow Jesus to the best of their ability throughout their lives. When they consent to this commitment after baptism their salvation continues in a progressive way in that every action they take can be an experience of sanctification as an act of obedience to God’s call.
“On this account we are called ‘saints’ (hagioi in Greek), or ‘sanctified ones.’ Prior to salvation, our behavior bore witness to our standing in the world in separation from God, but now our behavior should bear witness to our standing before God in separation from the world. Little by little, every day, ‘those who are being sanctified’ (Hebrews 10:14, ESV) are becoming more like Christ. … These three phases of sanctification separate the believer from: a) the penalty of sin (justification), (b) the power of sin (maturity), and (c) the presence of sin (glorification).” [1]
Salvation through Christ?
God sent his Son Jesus to save us from our sin. The most basic and fundamental sin, the father of all sin is, pride. When we have a high or inordinate opinion of our own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority we are prideful. Pride is our perception that we are separate from others, including God. Being human, knowingly or not, we commit the sin of pride. Pride is with us all the time. It is not the same thing as self-love. If you love yourself, you can discipline yourself and even put others before yourself. If you cannot have self-discipline, then you cannot be a mature adult human person, nor will you be able to be in a close, primary relationship with another person, including God. Therefore, pride is a perpetual thorn in our sides.
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Psychologists tell us that it is essential in the development of children that they realize they are no longer part of their mothers. Some sense that we are distinct individuals is necessary for our development as humans. At the same time, it is essential that children AND adults have a feeling of connection and trust that the world, including their parents, care givers, or loved ones will give them what they need. According to Erik Erikson, the first stage of psychological development is to acquire a sense of trust vs mistrust.
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Trusting another person takes time and repeated interactions. The very definition of a social relationship is a pattern of interaction. The making of a true friendship involves enough interaction that both persons involved become able to trust each other. The same thing is true of our relationship with God. Some sort of teaching as well as prayer and contemplation are probably prerequisite for the development of closeness or intimacy with God or a Higher Power.
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It is not going too far to say that friends will usually come to believe in each other if there is to be an enduring and close relationship between the two. In all lasting friendships there are conflicts, anger, and disappointment. Our relationship with God might be interrupted or jeopardized if people who are supposed to be God’s representatives on Earth disappoint, hurt, or betray us. The old saying that you always hurt the one you love has some truth to it. The closer we are to someone the more destructive is a hurt, betrayal or injury done by them or to them.
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What does all of this have to do with salvation through Christ? Let me lay a bit more foundation to answer this question.
A father’ son, Danny, gets arrested for being in a fight and hurting another guy. The father goes to the authorities and pays Danny’s fine and the lawyer who works out a deal with the judge for the son to do community service. It helps if the son is sorry and apologizes for the harm he has done. But the father is the one who paid the fine and the lawyer to satisfy the punishment-requirements of the law and to bring Danny back in right relationship with the community.
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Before Jesus grew up and hit the ground as a carpenter in Nazareth, for centuries humans had been sinning in small and horrific ways. Every sin of every person was a betrayal of God’s abundant love and goodness, of his work to create and maintain of our planet and its inhabitants. There is no way to know how much hurt this caused and causes God. And hurt it does. God is as not just a powerful love force out there, he is a person who knows everything intimately including hurt, disappointment, frustration, anguish, and pain. Think about a mother’s hurt when her daughter curses her and leaves home in a rage. Now multiply that by billions and billions. Over and over and over we humans violate our relationship with God. These injuries were heaped upon God for centuries. Finally, he decided to do something about it. He wanted us to realize his pain and woundedness as a result of our sins and misdeeds, so he became human to show us.
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Picture Jesus growing up, living life with its trials and travails, and suffering anguish in the garden of Gethsemane, being falsely accused and convicted, carrying the cross up to Calvary, and hanging there for hours with a crown of thorns, nails piercing his wrists and feet and his body bloody from head to foot. This picture should show us something about how God has suffered due to eons of betrayal by our species. For those of us who are touched and feel sad and sorry for the ways we have hurt God, we might feel some sense of being one with God’s pain. That is an “at-one-ment,” (atonement) that we get without actually going through what Jesus of Nazareth went through. This is how and why Jesus died for our sins, to bring about this “at-one-ment” or reconciliation between our species and his Father. It is our apology and amends.
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Every parent who has suffered for and with their children has some small sense of the importance of this redemption. Every sinner should thank God for his abundant love in sending his Son to do this work for us. Maybe it will even save us, for when we think of him and his life and sacrifice it might inspire us to be like him. His life and death saved us from our pride-driven selves by reconnecting and re-membering us to his Father. For now we are actually to joined to Love itself through the Body of Christ alive here now.
Prayer: Speaking to Jesus
I used to worry about my lack of a sense of closeness to Jesus rather than the Father or the Holy Spirit. The reason for this concern was that I had for many years had a strong sense of solidarity with the Father and regularly journaled in the form of a conversation with him. There was ease and affection with the Father. But when it came to talking to Jesus, I had more of a problem perceiving him the way I did with the Father. Therefore, I spoke to my pastor about my confusion, and he explained that when I spoke to or conversed with the Father I was also speaking with Jesus because God is three persons in one God. Therefore speaking to the Father was also speaking to the Son and the Holy Spirit. This clarification greatly relieved my concerns. And in fact, now I find it quite easy to speak with Jesus with the same comfort and trust that I have with the Father. Of course, I realize that I do not have a private or exclusive relationship with Jesus even though I speak of him as my "personal" savior. Here we see the inadequacy of language, specifically the word, personal. God is not just my savior but the Savior of the World, including all of mankind and the universe. Jesus Christ is God's message of humility to the universe. I once wrote a poem called, "What Might?" in which I say that God's power is not as humans usually visualize or think about it, but the power of love.
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