Oswald uses the phrase "are we prepared" eight times in today's devotional reading, but notice who does the action in the corresponding Bible verses: "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it," I Thessalonians 5:23-24.
God does the work, but I am not a passive bystander. Oswald asks if I am prepared. What if I am not? "It will cost everything that is not of God in us." What if I have not counted the costs? "Sanctification means intense concentration on God's point of view." What if I am distracted by the world and the requirements of holiness take me by surprise?
For me, the answers to those questions are not theoretical. I have proven again and again that I was not prepared to pay the price, that I wasn't even clear on what the price was, and my concentration has been very weak. I have been bothered about a great many things unrelated to God's purpose. Looking back, I see that God has done the narrowing and broadening, and he has brought me to this place where my longing for him is intense. Like C.S. Lewis' protagonist in A Pilgrim's Regress, it has been a strange journey, circuitous to say the least, and I feel in many ways that it is only just beginning. But I do not feel his whip or scorn. I feel his mercy, and though I cannot see them, I know his arms are outstretched.
Jesus was ruled by a love for the Father. May I be so ruled.
Your words bring me great joy, Barb. I truly rejoice with you as you trace God's hand in your life. May we all be so ruled as Jesus was.
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