Sanctified Through Suffering

Sanctified Through Suffering

“I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” Leviticus 20:8b

I (Patricia) have always lived with the thought that someday I would actually die for Christ. When I first heard the Gospel as a very young teen, I was emotionally riveted to think that my belief in Jesus could in fact, cost me my life. I would often fantasize the scenario; “Renounce Christ or Die!” as a pagan rebel held a gun to my head. It thrilled my heart to realize that I had a belief in something far more meaningful and someone far more powerful and significant than any of the false idols I had previously considered spiritual “heavy weights.” The life and death excitement of my new faith fueled outrageous and often dangerous behavior, as my spiritual zeal far surpassed my maturity. I passed out tracts to bikers at 2 a.m. alone in Golden Gate Park, witnessed alone to the homeless in dark alleys, and invited a pen-pal prison inmate to my family’s home for dinner to “be Christ to him”; which gives you a snapshot of my “zeal without knowledge” lifestyle. Death as a spiritual martyr would be an honor…but death through sanctification was not on my radar. That was a topic for a theology student, not for a new believer on a mission. May I safely assume that the notion of sanctification was also not on the radar of your newfound faith in Christ?

I am confident that most of us would be honored to die for our faith. At least if we take a bullet for Christ, our assassin, and onlookers can ponder their personal destiny and possibly be inspired by our ultimate sacrifice. There could be glamour and significance to our death. But instead, for many of us, the long, unending drama of our chronic daily conflicts, disappointments, shattered dreams, exhaustion and pain; looks and feels extremely dull, futile and very fruitless. In emotional handcuffs, we loathe our unglamorous circumstances. As trapped prisoners, we continuously re-evaluate everything we believe about God, others and ourselves. We feel that our tedious, unproductive, time-consuming, daily “death” from sanctification, carries with it no weight of eternal purpose and glory; yet, as though we are incarcerated, we pass time, endure life, and wait for the inevitable... physical death. Is true sanctification a painful and pointless life sentence?

Sanctification is defined both by Webster’s Dictionary and the Bible as:

*to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate; to purify or free from sin: sanctify your hearts

*to impart religious sanction; to render legitimate or binding; to sanctify a vow

*to entitle to reverence or respect; to make productive of or conducive to spiritual blessing (SM)

We all realize that delayed gratification in itself, most always produces suffering. If you knew that your unceasing, unrelenting, emotional, mental or physical battle would actually produce in you something so ultimately satisfying and eternally glorious; would it change your present belief that your current existence is utterly futile? If you could more deeply understand that your Heavenly Father is using your present trials to so specifically purify and mature you that you would eventually become a recipient of spiritual (and possibly even human) blessings and respect; would that truth lodge a beam of hope into the depths of your heart? Do you honestly believe that each time you resist temptation’s hellish pull, though you feel you may instantly combust from temptation’s fire which consumes your very core; that you are running from the fiery flames for an ultimately greater, eternal purpose and reward? Is fighting the raging daily battles, really worth it? Is suffering under life’s daily pain in reality, productive? The distance between today’s battles and eternity’s glory is shorter than we realize!

*Sanctification is the only process that promises certain aspects of entitlement; we will be revered and respected.

*The fire of sanctification will make us holy, as it destroys our love for sin.

*We will become authentic, productive, and eventual recipients of spiritual (and possibly even physical) blessings

While we may or may not take a bullet for our Savior, while Christ sanctifies us, we are definitely going to “suffer and die.” As we die to ourselves and live for Christ, we will eventually become more fully alive, more deeply satisfied, and more overwhelmingly joyous. “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” We, like Jesus, must be convinced that our future blessing will be greater than our present suffering.As our minds and hearts surrender to the Spirit’s work of sanctification; we will emerge as gold from fire. As Daniel’s three friends would attest; “He was with us in the fire!” He is with you, in the fires of your sanctification. You do not suffer alone.

Blessings,

Kurt and Patricia Byrnes

(Acts 20:32; Hebrews 10:29; I Thessalonians 5:23 Romans 15:15; I Corinthians 6:11, 7:14, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Daniel 3)

Anchor of Hope P.O. Box 2187 Monument, CO 80132 719-233-4540