Securely Conditioned: Sanctification

I forget, sometimes, the severity of the situation.

Christ or death.

Not just a walk in the park. Not just a moment given to reflection, here and there. Not just a matter of spending a couple minutes a day, reading the Word of God.

No.

Christ or death.

And with all the reading about predestination, lately, and about the security of the elect, the assurance of salvation for those foreordained to be conformed to the image of Christ...

...inherent all those can creep up a sense of security which then might allow self-indulgence to be fostered, unto relaxing from ardently seeking Christ.

But, no.

It's Christ or death, still.

Taking into account that we have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, pressing on for the high calling in Christ, diligently studying as to show ourselves approved, examining ourselves to see whether we are in the faith, and being doers of the Word, not hearers only...



...it's Christ or death.

In Him is life, eternal. To know Him and to know the Father is eternal life. In God. Abiding in His love.

Outside of which is much weeping and gnashing of teeth, even as outer darkness.

He is life. Without Him, there is no life. There's only bondage to sin--bondage to worldly, fleshly desires which work rebellion against God. Such as invites death. Such as manifests it, spiritually, far prior to physical demise. Even as a hardened heart, delusion, and inability to know truth, as one's conscience has been seared to a point of near-total unresponsiveness, even unto misdirection.

Thus, the ardent pursuit--ardently seeking Him, His will, His being, His person. Otherwise eventually overwhelmed by the cares of this world, as they constantly seek to usurp all thoughts and awareness of Christ. Unto death.

Christ or death.

Such that those who are His, who do have assurance of eternal security...know a sense of urgency, on some level, in continuing to seek Him. Because the necessity is made evident, just per the working of one's own heart, in loving Him yet being constantly buffeted by all the cares and concerns of the world which continually strive to subsume all mention of His name.

For there were those patches of earth in which the seed fell and sprang up, yet thorns choked out the life of the plant, killing it.

The concerns of the world choked the life.

That can't be. Those who are His--truly His--won't allow it, because He won't allow it, of them.

And that bit is wherein comes the seemingly conditional portion of election.

....which, rather than being conditions, are actually descriptions of the life of those who will remain. Merely, it seems conditional, because those who don't meet those conditions aren't part of the elect--but retroactively evidenced, rather than by matter of course.

It goes back to what the Lord said about the way He'd lead His people, in the latter days: He said He'd teach them, Himself. Directly. Guide them, Himself. Individually. Such that His Holy Spirit would lead into all truth, knowledge, and bring to remembrance all the things He'd said.

So that we don't need teachers, because He teaches us. Even as He gives us teachers, to instruct us and help prepare us for ministry.

Still...it's all Him.

He opens the blind eyes. He makes the sick well. He raises the dead to life.

The dead hear His voice and come to life. He draws us to Himself, in such a way.

And those things...which seem like they're hard-line descriptors of a game-plan for Christian living...actually serve as reminders for the things which the Holy Spirit has otherwise already placed in the heart of those who love Christ, as to guide them and instruct them in the ways of the Lord.

Such that reading them then yields comprehension, as recognition unto edification in Christ. Learning, profiting by hearing. Unto Christlikeness.

It's reassurance, moreover.

As:

...these are the things you must do in order to remain in the faith, in order to overcome the world, in order to please God, in order to grow in Christ...

yet equates to:

...recognize these things as what you feel driven to do, so to become more aware of the guidance of the Holy Spirit; furthermore, increasingly realize the continued impulse to diligently continue in these practices signifies that you are indeed being led by the Holy Spirit; per such recognition, realize always the need to continually test all spirits, ever to ensure you are being led of God...knowing that even such an impulse, as directed from within and by Scripture, is of God...recognize all this as indication of His desire that you draw ever nearer, unto total reconciliation with Himself, as He desires you not be conformed to the world but to the image of His son...

The Way of Holiness, or some.

Upon regeneration, it seems there just comes that innate desire to walk in His ways. Even if some more slowly than others, and to differing degrees of fulfillment perhaps...then still, the desire to draw nearer to Him in some way becomes evident.

Descriptors, though. Even as they are part and parcel of the process. Describing and outlining. As a guidepost for progress, to those who would seek whatever might be helpful to proceed. Even as the Holy Spirit directs, guides, manifests, and secures all progress.

The work of Christ in us.