It’s story time!

Ah yes! That age old desire to do something that you know deep down you shouldn’t do. You fight the urge and then do it anyway! Maybe after you feel guilty… or maybe you don’t…

Whether you feel guilty or not you probably end up doing it again and it becomes a negative cycle. 

“but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15)

You may be thinking but it’s hard though, how do I avoid the temptation to sin when it’s surrounding me everywhere? When I’m surrounded by it at home, at work, at uni, when I watch TV, when I go on the internet, when I see my family, when I’m with my boyfriend or girlfriend, when I see my friends or when I go on a date? 

Sanctification

Well it isn't a one moment event that will stop all desires, it is an ongoing lifelong process called sanctification. There are three parts to our salvation. Salvation means when you die, you will be with God in heaven. Basically you are “saved” from eternal separation from God. This is why if you aren’t a Christian you may hear us saying we are “saved”. That’s what we are talking about. 

So back to the three parts of salvation. The first part is justification and the second part is sanctification. The third part is glorification. The second part, sanctification is the part which will enable you to avoid negative cycles. 

Story time

I’ve always loved words and stories. Years ago I was a librarian. I was already working in libraries as a library assistant and I decided to do the post graduate course to become a qualified librarian.

When you become a librarian you have to do the boring but important stuff like dealing with HR issues, making sure you don’t go over budget and lots of meetings! You stop doing the fun stuff like story time with the children.

So to explain sanctification and how it will help you avoid spiralling into negative cycles and sinful actions. I’m going to go back to library assistant mode and tell you a story that I’ve written. So grab your drink or snack and get comfy.

Chapter 1

Imagine you are being sued for owing someone £10,000 and you know deep down you are guilty of not paying them back. The judge finds you guilty and says you have to pay £10,000 and if you don't you will be sentenced to prison instead. You say that's not fair, why prison? You know you don't have £10,000, so you know you are facing prison time. Then in walks a man you don't know and who doesn't owe anyone any money and never has. He tells the judge that he'll pay your £10,000. You accept his offer. The judge agrees and you walk out of court a free person.

The person who successfully sued you shouts that's not fair, you should've paid. The judge says I'm not "fair", I'm "just". The judge turns to them and says, you wanted £10,000, they couldn't pay you, that man could pay it so the "just" thing to do is let him pay so the debt is clear.

That is what Jesus does for those who accept him as Lord and Son of God. We will all get judged before God regardless of your religion or if you are an atheist, like in a courtroom. We have ALL sinned whether it's what society classes as "big" sins like murder, hurting people or rejecting God or what would be classed as "smaller" sins like lying or keeping hate in our heart.

Now the judge is God the Father and He judges us for our sins, reads your sin charge and says we have to pay the price for our sins. The price is eternity in hell. You know you are guilty of all the sins read out. Then in walks Jesus He explains to you that thousands of years ago, when people sinned they had to sacrifice an animal as an offering to God every time they sinned and this would cover their sin. Then God sent Christ to instead be the sacrificial offering to whoever sinned. This would cover their sin and they could be right with God.

Jesus then explains to you that He has never sinned but because He knew that people will never stop sinning and as they will have no way of undoing their sins, He sacrificed himself on the cross even though he was innocent. 

The punishment for sin is death. Adam and Eve sinned first so eternal life ended and people started dying. As Jesus was innocent He defeated death, so anyone who believes He is the Son of God and their saviour will have their sins (debts) covered.

Jesus then tells you that if you let Him, he'll pay your debt. So you let Him do this by truly believing He is the Son of God and accepting Him as your Saviour. The Judge God the Father accepts Jesus' offer to pay your debt and your charge sheet is clear and you walk free from court. It's not "fair" but it's "just" because God isn't fair, He is just.

Justification

Now Chapter 1 explains the first part of salvation, which is justification. Britannica’s definition of justification is the act by which God moves a willing person from the state of sin (injustice) to the state of grace (justice) or the act of acquittal whereby God gives sinners the status of the righteous.

The Apostle Paul summarises the concept of justification in Romans 5:18: 

“Just as one trespass [which was Adam’s sin] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [which was Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross] resulted in justification and life for all people.”

Chapter 2

Now back to my story:

Now for the rest of your life, as you keep truly believing in Jesus as the Son of God and thanking Him for clearing your debt (sins). You start to naturally want to change how you live your life. Things that you used to do now seem wrong and you naturally want to be like that person, Jesus, who got you out of the courtroom because you are so grateful for what He did for you, He saved you. 

When you sin again... and you will! You immediately ask Jesus to tell the Judge God The Father that you are sorry and ask for forgiveness and turn away from that behaviour and Jesus does this.

Sanctification- A life long process

Now this part of the story is sanctification. This is the life long process that people who have found Jesus go through. If you are filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit you will naturally want to stop sinful actions.

The Holy Spirit will convict you, which means He will make you feel bad for the negative or tempting thoughts or actions so you won’t want to do it again. This is when you repent, which means saying sorry to God and deciding that you will turn away from that behaviour and trying really hard not to do it again.

Holy Spirit

In case you aren’t sure what the Holy Spirit is, it is the third part of God (God= Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Just before Jesus went up to heaven after rising from the dead, He left his believers with the Holy Spirit to help them make the right decisions in life. Like a much more powerful version of intuition.

When you have a relationship with God the Father, through Jesus, you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit who lives within you. That's how you access all of God as He is one God in three parts, not three separate Gods.

Temptation 

Now at this point it’s important to stress that encountering temptation and having tempting thoughts aren’t necessarily sins but by not keeping those types of thoughts in check can lead to you acting on those thoughts. It is the action which is the sin. The sanctification process is not allowing sin to rule your life.

Believer's victory

Sanctification is the believer’s victory over:

1) Their flesh, as Paul says in Romans 6, in verses 12-14 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness”.

2) It’s a believer’s victory over the World, as John says in 1 John 5:4 “everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith”.

3) It’s a believer’s victory over the devil, as James says in James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”.

Sanctification is you separating yourself from sinful actions and negative cycles that have been normalised in society, so you can be closer to God. 

So how do we avoid falling into negative cycles? 

I once heard a pastor, I saw online, say that we check it- capture it- discard it, it stuck with me and I now apply it to my life. This means when we get a negative thought we check it, which is acknowledging the thought. Like I said earlier the negative thoughts aren’t always the sins but then we capture it by deciding not to act on it yet. Then we discard it by deciding to throw the thought away and not acting on it at all. 

There are three ways in which I think we can successfully check it- capture it and discard it.

Number 1

First, we have to regularly read the Bible. The Bible is the world’s best self help book, which will guide us to not put our negative thoughts into actions. 

Jesus doesn’t overtly give us one exhaustive list of sins. However in Mark 7:21-22 Jesus does tell his disciples:

 “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person”.  

Every action starts with a thought. Jesus is saying the negative thoughts of sexual immorality can lead to the act. The term sexual immorality which in the Bible is translated from the Greek work “porneia”. Porneia which means a surrendering (giving up) of sexual purity and is used when describing any sexual relations outside of marriage.

Other thoughts linked to what Jesus listed are:

• Wanting to take something that belongs to someone else.

• Thoughts of pursuing someone who is married to someone else.

• Thoughts of jealousy of a friend or an enemy.

• Obsessive thoughts of money and material things.

• Thoughts of gossiping about someone.

• Thoughts of hurting someone or wishing harm or illness on them.

• Thoughts of lying to your loved ones.

• Thoughts of foolish behaviour.

• Thoughts of thinking you are better than someone else.

All these can lead to negative actions which is the sin.

Negative actions are listed and described throughout the Bible and the more you read it the more the Holy Spirit will highlight them to you in the scriptures and you will naturally want to avoid those negative actions. 

The Bible will also help you understand how to replace negative thoughts and cycles with agape love for people. Agape love is described as brotherly or sisterly love and unconditional care for others. It is different from the love we have for our husbands or wives, family and friends. For Christians it is a love we should strive for, to motivate us to selflessly serve others even our enemies. It is a love that goes beyond our emotions and drives us to have a sense of care and concern for others, even people we don’t like that much. 

By extending your love for people beyond romantic and familial or friendship love can help you break negative thoughts, as you learn the highest form of selfless love by loving all as God’s creations.

Number 2

The second way to successfully check it- capture it and discard it, is to pray. This will help you to capture the negative thoughts. We can’t go through life and the sanctification process alone, we need God’s guidance and support to keep us on the right track. We do this by taking our darkest thoughts and temptations to God and asking Him to help us resist them. 

The devil wants you to keep things secret as there is power in secrecy. By being open with God makes the thoughts lose their power and deals a sucker punch to the devil. Plus God already knows your thoughts and still loves you,  He just wants you to be open and share them with him before you put them into action. So you really have nothing to lose.

Number 3

The third way, and this will help you to discard the negative thoughts, is to have friends who are believers of Christ in your life. Not people who just believe that Jesus was a good man or a prophet, no friends who believe Jesus is the Son of God and part of the triune God. 

As I’ve said, sanctification is a lifelong process and you need people in your life that will help you stay on the narrow path and away from sin. Fellow believers in Christ can do this.

Now I’m not saying you can’t have friends who are non-believers. My closest friends, who have been there for me through the ups and downs, are of different faiths. We certainly can have friends who aren’t Christians because Jesus told us to go out and make disciples and how can we do this if we only know Christians? However, now I’m on my lifelong sanctification process, I make sure I have some friends and acquaintances who are followers of Christ. I’m also fortunate enough to have a husband and some family members who are believers in Christ, as they can help me avoid negative cycles by correcting me or not putting me in situations that could lead to sinful actions. 

If all your friends and family are non-believers then they may inadvertently (or purposely in some cases) lead you to sinful actions because they know no better because they don’t know Christ. To them those thoughts and actions are their normal. However, there is still hope for them too because you living your life in a love filled, positive way could lead them to Christ. 

We are all broken people trying our best, so when you sin, notice I didn’t say “if” but when you do a sinful action all you have to do is repent to God, through Jesus, in Jesus’s name and God will forgive you. God has this amazing ability to know everything and also forget our sins if we repent. If He can do that, then you can move on and get back on track with your sanctification. 

Chapter 3

Now for the final chapter of my story:

All this to say that after you take your last breath on earth, you will be in a "courtroom" but those who let Jesus pay their debt and followed Jesus and his teachings while alive, will walk into that courtroom and the Judge God the Father will look at the charge sheet and it will be totally clear as the nailing of the cross wiped away all your sins from the charge sheet.

You are free from hell and eternal life awaits!

Glorification

This final part of the story is the final salvation process which is glorification. You have stayed with Christ during your life. Tried to live a life like Christ in the best way you could, regularly repented for your sins and as a result when Jesus returns to Earth He will transform you and give you a glorious body (as described in Philippians 3:20-21) and you get the reward of eternal life with God free from pain and death. 

If we follow the salvation process laid out in the Bible, then when we breathe our final breath we can acknowledge that our lives weren’t perfect but because when we were born again by the grace of God, we stayed close to Christ and that kept us on our sanctification path meaning we could avoid those negative cycles and eventually be transformed. 

 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”. (Philippians 3:20-21)