The freedom to change
Philippians 3:13-14 "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Paul's words above describe an important tenet of the Christian faith- progressive sanctification. Sanctification is different but equally important as justification. Justification is the full and complete forgiveness we receive when we place our faith in what Christ accomplished for us through His death and resurrection. Sanctification describes what happens over the course of our lives after justification.
After we accept Christ's unmerited grace, we become His children and start a lifelong process of coming to know Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to progressively transform us to be more like Him. Justification is more like an event that happens at a particular time, whereas sanctification is a process that does not end during our time on earth.
If we allow the process to work as it should, each successive day brings us slightly closer to (and more knowledgeable of) God than we were the day before. Our words, beliefs and actions at any particular point in our lives are constrained by what we know and where we are in the sanctification process at that time. Later, we may look back on choices we have made and see a different path than we were able to see at the time. We might even forcefully argue than someone facing a similar situation today take a different path than we did.
Our past thoughts, choices and actions do not set a precedent for us that can never be changed in the future. We don't continue to give someone an F in math all the way through high school because they answered a math problem incorrectly in 1st grade.
In the same way, we shouldn't label someone a hypocrite for holding different beliefs and advocating for different choices today than what they themselves have held and done in the past. This is exactly what Paul means when he talks of forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. How many times must he have had his past life and beliefs as a persecutor of Christians and zealot against the Christian faith thrown in his face as he was preaching the Gospel of grace through faith alone?
Even those (especially those) who have made opposite choices in the past (divorce, adultery, idol worship, etc.) and held different beliefs can forcefully argue against those choices and beliefs at a later point. To place someone in a permanent box and deny their ability and freedom to change and grow is to deny the sanctification process that is described in the Bible.
If our destinies were set in stone by the actions we took and the beliefs we held at an earlier point in our lives, none of us would stand here today as believers.
Paul's words above describe an important tenet of the Christian faith- progressive sanctification. Sanctification is different but equally important as justification. Justification is the full and complete forgiveness we receive when we place our faith in what Christ accomplished for us through His death and resurrection. Sanctification describes what happens over the course of our lives after justification.
After we accept Christ's unmerited grace, we become His children and start a lifelong process of coming to know Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to progressively transform us to be more like Him. Justification is more like an event that happens at a particular time, whereas sanctification is a process that does not end during our time on earth.
If we allow the process to work as it should, each successive day brings us slightly closer to (and more knowledgeable of) God than we were the day before. Our words, beliefs and actions at any particular point in our lives are constrained by what we know and where we are in the sanctification process at that time. Later, we may look back on choices we have made and see a different path than we were able to see at the time. We might even forcefully argue than someone facing a similar situation today take a different path than we did.
Our past thoughts, choices and actions do not set a precedent for us that can never be changed in the future. We don't continue to give someone an F in math all the way through high school because they answered a math problem incorrectly in 1st grade.
In the same way, we shouldn't label someone a hypocrite for holding different beliefs and advocating for different choices today than what they themselves have held and done in the past. This is exactly what Paul means when he talks of forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. How many times must he have had his past life and beliefs as a persecutor of Christians and zealot against the Christian faith thrown in his face as he was preaching the Gospel of grace through faith alone?
Even those (especially those) who have made opposite choices in the past (divorce, adultery, idol worship, etc.) and held different beliefs can forcefully argue against those choices and beliefs at a later point. To place someone in a permanent box and deny their ability and freedom to change and grow is to deny the sanctification process that is described in the Bible.
If our destinies were set in stone by the actions we took and the beliefs we held at an earlier point in our lives, none of us would stand here today as believers.
posted by Robert Jory Allen at
4:11 AM
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