“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.” (Mal. 3:6–7)
Have you ever thought something like “I came to Christ because I saw my sin for what it was and I hated it. I was so happy to be forgiven and set free—but now I find myself doing things that I hate and know I’ll regret. How can I be a Christian if I keep falling into the same patterns?”
This is a common trap. You fall into it when you try to prove your justification (the fact that you’ve been set right with God through Christ’s sacrifice) by examining your sanctification (whether you are now living more righteously).
Many Christians understand that justification produces sanctification, but it’s easy to forget that, while justification happens in an instant, sanctification is a lifelong process—one that is often nonlinear as you run into roadblocks and experience setbacks. If you expect to see some evidence of the end result (sinless perfection) while skipping over the process, you will be disappointed—and, worse, you will question how effective your sanctification is. Those questions will then lead you to wonder whether you were ever justified.
Here’s why you can’t prove that you’ve been justified by measuring your sanctification: on this earth, you will never get to a place of sinlessness (see 1 John 1:8). The sin nature still resides inside you, and it strives against the Spirit of God (see Gal. 5:17). And so even the godliest Christians find themselves doing things that they no longer want to do (see Rom. 7:15–20; Gal. 2:11–13).
If sinlessness is a precondition for knowing that we’re saved, then none of us qualify. Our inclination to see things this way is merely another trick of the Evil One to keep us focused on the object of salvation (us) and not on its author (God).
Malachi 3:6–7 offers a different focus. God acknowledges that his people have always had a problem being faithful to him. His response is not to be disgusted with us, to throw his hands up and walk away, to threaten us, to tell us to work harder, or to offer us bribes so we will be good. Instead he offers us an invitation. He invites us to turn back to him, despite having sinned just like our ancestors. He doesn’t base that invitation on the strength of how hard we are trying or how successful we are. He bases it on his unchanging nature. He is the God who made us to know him—to love him and be loved by him. He has never wavered from his desire for us to do so, despite the many reasons we have given and continue to give him.
He still wants you. What you have done has not changed what he already did for you. Nor has it changed his heart for you. He doesn’t want you to wonder if he has turned from you. Rather, he longs for you to turn to him.
I HOPE YOU FOUND THIS TO BE HELPFUL.
PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES
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Church link:
Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com