In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

ROMANS 8:26–30

—

During the past two weeks, we’ve been reflecting on how we can view our faith through the lens of a lifelong process where our goal is to become like Jesus. We have reflected on how we’ve sinned (missed the goal) and how we’ve been saved from sin (justified). This week, we are going to consider that we are also being saved from sin (sanctified).

It’s at this point that we move from statements about reality to our lived experience of reality. Over the centuries, different figures from church history have written extensively about this tension between the reality that we’ve been saved from sin, yet our experience of that reality can feel like we’re back where we started. It certainly does for me! Even though I have a new identity in Christ, I still needlessly yell at my kids, occasionally slack off at work, and check my emails during the church service.

In the Protestant stream, we call this process sanctification. The Catholic stream might call this purgation. The Orthodox stream might call this deification. Whichever word you prefer, it points towards what Paul is writing about in the latter half of Romans 8; we’re in the process of being saved.

The late Jesuit priest, Gerry Hughes (1924–2014) articulates this in his beautiful work, God of Surprises:

‘Sin is the refusal to let God be God.
Repentance is letting God be God in our lives.
Knowing our sinfulness and repenting is a lifelong, continual process.’

This lifelong continual process is not just for us.

We’re being saved in order to reflect what God is like and to carry his presence to those who have not yet experienced his grace and his mercy. This is the overarching theme of Romans 8:22–30. As those predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus, we’re to stand in the gap for all of creation and work out God’s purposes for the good of our colleagues, congregation, or the little ones sitting opposite us at the breakfast table.

This is where the paradigm of ‘head, heart, hands, and feet’ comes in handy. We have the head knowledge. We experience heart transformation. Then, we put that into physical practice wherever we are. As we set ourselves to this goal, God graciously works in us and through us by his Spirit for the benefit of those around us.

Luke Johnson
Luke is a part-time teacher, part-time church worker, and recent graduate of an MA in Christian spirituality.

This week how can you personally celebrate this process of becoming more like Christ and, in turn, how might you bless those around you as a whole-life witness?