When
God begins to work in us, He leaves no stone unturned. He takes apart our entire personality bit by
bit and regenerates it by fire. From
head to toe, where sin has marred us and warped our being, our Savior gets in
there and goes to work. Paul called it
"being crucified in Christ".
James labeled it "the testing of your faith". Peter spoke of it as "judgment"
that starts with the "family of God". John the Baptist described the work of
Christ as that of baptizing "you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
Jesus called it a pruning. God will not
let go of us until we are a holy people who love with the same love Christ
loved us. It is a shame that so many
speak only of the blessings of God without including within those blessings the
purifying work of our Lord to make us free of Sin and righteous not just by
decree but in actual day to day living.
There comes a point when we must decide if we really want to be wholly
God's or if we are satisfied with the world having a part of us too. The Lord won't force Himself upon you. He won't tackle you and make you beg mercy. He lets you go on your way but if you are
born again, you will never be settled with the corrosive effect of sin working
through you; you will want it out of you and it is then that a transaction
occurs. It will be your life for
His. You give God your life and He gives
you His and God, like a surgeon, begins to go at all the damage your sin has
caused you and others. Meticulously He
works on the habits you have developed that make you impure. He grinds down the thought patterns that
corrupt your actions. The burdens that
you grip with terrible force that other sinners have placed on your shoulders,
He lifts from you. God will not be
satisfied with you until He has given you a "clean bill of health" and
you are holy. You may not even realize
what our Lord has done for you until it suddenly dawns on you what a new person
you are; that you are really transformed and have all the earmarks of Christ in
you, the hope of Glory.
And
we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed
into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is
the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
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