Suffering? Or Sanctifying?

Jerusha Edwards’ Headstone goo.gl/oQaW2x

Greetings & Blessings Faithful Followers of Team MissionAccess! So lemme ask you:  Are You Suffering?  Or Sanctifying?  Today’s Blog is based on my recent Bible Study at Bartimaeus Baptist Temple entitled:  “Suffering 2.0–The Sanctification Upgrade.”

John Piper’s excellent book Acting the Miracle: God’s Work and Ours in the Mystery of Sanctification defines Sanctification as “the modest theological term we Christians use to refer to the process of being Holy.” [i]  Books, Bible Studies, Sermons and Seminars abound exceeding abundantly on this thorny theological imperative. 

Bottom Line? It’s TOUGH!  So I’ve got Good News…and Other News.  Let’s start with that:

There Are No Points If You Caused It

1 Peter 2:20 NASU says:  “For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.”

But Good News! God Will Help You Through It!

Isaiah 41:10 NASU says:

‘Do not fear, for I am with you;  Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely, I will help you,  Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Thankfully Our Awesome Lord shows us it’s not only possible, He’s given us clear evidence in the Believers like David Brainerd who have gone on before.  Though we have ample evidence of David’s sanctification from his personal diaries, it is this humble postscript penned by Jonathan Edwards (who published them after David’s death) whose own 18-year-old daughter Jerusha also died of TB after caring faithfully for the dying missionary:

“She had not seen one minute for several years wherein she desired to live one minute longer, for the sake of any other good in life, but doing good, living for God, and doing what she might for His Glory.” [ii]

May Her Humble Example Serve To Redefine Sanctification As A Suffering 2.0 Upgrade For His Glory! 

In His Accessible Grace,

Linda

[i] 1 John Piper & David Mathis, “Acting the Miracle: God’s Work and Ours in the Mystery of Sanctification” (Wheaton, IL:  Crossway, 2013), Kindle Edition.

[ii] 2 “The Life And Diary of the Rev. David Brainerd” (with Notes & Reflections by Jonathan Edwards) 1749, Kindle Edition.