The goal of santifictication

     Sanctification is a big and loaded theological term indicating the process of becoming who and what God wants us to be.  That process ends in one of two manners.  First, there are the steps of becoming less like me and more like Jesus daily bringing about changes that bring us into a deeper relationship with God.  Secondly, there is the final sanctification move when we pass from this life o life in heaven with God and all those who have gone on before.  That's the two movements that should take place in the Christians life.  The goal of sanctification is not to be perfect but to perfect Jesus as Lord of our lives.  Most Christians don't do this.  There is some moment in time when they have made the believers prayer an event that has set them in the definition of a Christian.  Then they stop.  While it's true that at conversion we are made righteous and cleansed from all sin, it's not true that we have arrived.  With the war the world wages on us combined with those areas of our heart we have not surrendered to God, there is a need for ongoing work.  The fall was great and had an eternal affect on mankind.  Why should the process of sanctification be any less important? 
     People try to be better Christians for numerous personal reasons.  How many of those reasons are driven by the need to be more like Christ and less like me?  Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 that we are to be "perfect as God is perfect."  How can that happen?  Can we even imagine what "perfect" is like in our imperfect hearts and minds?  I know that I cannot.  The Greek in this passage actually says that we should be "being made perfect even as God is perfect."  That makes more sense and backs the need for ongoing sanctification.  But what is the goal of sanctification?  Is it something attainable?  Will we ever be perfect here on earth?  The simple answer comes juxtaposed to a previous series of posts I did on innocence.  The original sin separated us from God and took our innocence away.  The act of Christ in his life, death and resurrection brought to us the chance to regain innocence not through our thoughts, deeds and words; but through the sanctifying process in our lives.  The more we are reconciled to Christ, the greater innocence we are blessed with.  The war then is with the devil and his world trying to keep us from knowing the innocence of God found in Christ. 
    There is that old saying about the duck.  If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, then it's probably a duck.  It's no different with the Christian.  How many of you would be defined by the general population of the world as a Christian?  Do you represent Jesus or your idea of who he is?  Does your life produce so much evidence of Christianity that a court of law would convict you should it become a crime?  You do know that is what is prophesied?  Yes, we will one day be called upon to renounce Jesus or to die.  It's something the Islamists/Muslim are already doing.  There have been shootings where the shooter asked their victims if they were Christian and then killed them if they said yes.  Would you die for Jesus?  Would you lay your life on the line like Jesus did?  If you answered yes, good for you.  If you couldn't answer yes, what are you doing with your faith?  If you had the choice to renounce Christ or to have your most loved person in your life killed in front of you, what would you do?  Are you sanctified enough that the choice is a no brainer?  Can you say with Paul that "to die for Christ is gain!"?  Sanctification leads to innocence as we step outside of ourselves and let Christ live for us.  It's always your choice.