There is a common misconception of Christians that even used to dwell in my mind at one time.  This is the thought that once one comes to faith in Christ then they have figured things out.  They are good to go now and should not have a life of struggles and pains any longer.  I guess it’s not that I thought of them this way, but more they saw themselves in this light.  Over the past 4 years, as I began to slowly walk closer with God, He has began to show me knew things and give me new perspectives and an understanding that this is not even close to being the case.

In my reading this week, I ran across a great statement from Larry Crabb which states, “Just a quick glance beneath the surface of our life makes it clear that more is going on than loving God and loving others. It requires only a moment of honest self-reflection to realize that no matter how much we may have already changed, we still have a long way to go.”  This statement helped to cement a new belief and perspective that I had come to learn over the last few years.  This that we life and growth does not end with accepting Christ or Baptism.

Coming to Christ does not mean that we are now perfect people do no wrong or look at ourselves in this light.  Granted there may be some who do feel this way, but this is not the case.  We instead have come to grips with the reality that we do not have all of the answers and that this life is not about us and our own story, but it is about God and his epic story and what He desires for each of us, which is holiness.

In our lives and because of our inherent fallen nature, holiness is something that we will never be able to achieve in this world.  We can start leaning that way, but our fallen nature will always right back down at one point or another.  It’s a part of who we and the nature that we have.

God gave us something awesome though.  Through Christ, we are justified to seek Him and be sanctified throughout our lives to reach holiness and glorification.  So how does this happen?  Through study, prayer, fellowship, and discipleship.  All of these pieces fit together to allow us to grow throughout the course of our lives and to be sanctified in Christ over the course of our lives.

Just as Larry Crabb’s stated, while we walk in this life, no matter how much movement and change we’ve undertaken, we still have a long way to go.  None of us will ever have all of the answers.  None of us will ever make all of the right decisions all of the time in life.  However, we can all choose the direction of our lives.  Humble ourselves in understanding that we are still fallen and that we can never grow enough through this life.  As John Eldredge  has stated, “We get to live the life of Christ through a thousand small choices” and those choices run the full course of our lives to define who we are in Him.