Now, you pretty much have to take this as a matter of faith. At least most of us, most of the time. Maybe in the early days of our walk, it seemed so. But for much of our lives as Christians . . . I'm guessing here that you're a lot like me . . . well, if it's happening at all it must be by invisibly small increments!
Is that something I should worry about? Should I just go on doing the stuff, praying and reading my Bible and attending church, etc., hoping all things in Christ, and trusting that the lack of evidence of sanctification does not mean I'm utterly lost?
Or is this a kind of Christian naval-gazing? This worry . . . am I being sanctified? . . . is it really just another form of the endless self-regard that the dominant culture has trained us in?
I don't know the answers to these questions. Much of the NT takes sanctification as a given. It is something that is happening in every Christian. Peter . . . that Sanctified Peter, the fisherman who followed Jesus . . . in his letter to the "elect exiles" in various parts of Asia Minor, says quite plainly that the purpose of their election (their being chosen by God) was "for obedience to Jesus Christ and the sprinkling with his blood."
I want to let that phrase (from Peter's opening) stay in the forefront of my mind as I read and study the rest of First Peter. Two questions follow:
- What does "obedience to Christ" look like?
- What does Peter mean by "sprinkling with his blood"?
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