A few weeks ago, I heard an analogy regarding sanctification. Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church Seattle stated that sanctification is something like pedals on a bicycle. He stated that “God initiates and we respond“. In other words, God pushes the pedal down on one side and our act is to react to his initiation by responding. He initiates the changes in our life, it is our job to then respond to those changes. We react by pushing the pedal down on our side so he can again initiate another change in our lives.
I’ve often heard it called the “refining process”, but I like this image too. God puts the “ball in our court” by initiating a chance in our life and our walk. It is then our choice to respond and keep things moving.
Oo oo oo! I think you just inspired my next blog! 🙂 In the meantime here’s a good quote: “Press on… Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not… Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not… Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not… the world is filled with educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are important!”
Good post, Aaron.
And the key is being in sync with God, in that we are responding to God in the areas where he is pushing the pedal down.
When God is pressing X, and I am pressing Y, there’s a problem.
I like the analogy of the pedals. With pedals, our response is (and should be) instantaneous. A close walk with God does not lend itself to deciding what we want to do in response to Gods “push”.
I’m preaching on sanctification tomorrow morning. (I’d appreciate your prayers.) I’ll be using the bicycle pedal illustration…listened to the Driscoll sermon as part of my prep work.
Thanks M.C. for the additional idea of being in “sync” with the Holy Spirit.