Sanctification - it ain't for sissies!

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  -1 Peter 1:14-16 (ESV)

This holiday season has been one of the strangest in memory for my family. For the first time in 30 years, my wife and I have children who won’t be home for Christmas or New Year’s. Even so, I was looking forward to some “down time”. I had been saying for weeks that in the absence of my my kids, my favorite gift would be a couple days where I didn’t have to be “on” – no place to be, no schedule to keep, no people to meet, no work to complete – essentially an introvert’s paradise.
 
Instead, we had two situations pop up that wouldn’t wait. One involved some new friends that were evicted from their home December 20th. The result was a family of four that showed up on our doorstep needing a place to stay December 24th & 25th. The other involved some longtime friends in a dispute with extended family members that escalated on December 23rd into something potentially physically dangerous and financially devastating. Two families in crisis. So much for down time.
 
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.  -Psalm 16:5-6 (NIV)
 
So here’s the thing: I’m wrestling right now with my attitude toward all this. On one hand, I’m grateful to be in a position to be able to bless these two families. However “not according to plan” my Christmas holidays have been, things could always be worse. And I know every blessing I have in life is a gift from God to be shared with others.
 
On the other hand, I find myself somewhat offended by the ask, or at least the timing of the ask, in both situations. If I'm honest, my initial gut reaction was to look for an escape route – who can I scrape this off on? So am I a nice guy who is thankful that he “gets to” help others? Or am I a selfish hypocrite who secretly resents the fact that he “has to” help? It seems the answer is a bit of both. So I’m praying for grace.
 
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  -1 Peter 1:22-23 (NIV)
 
I need an attitude of charity to go with my acts of charity. Life is messy. We live in a fallen world and people (including me) get themselves into all kinds of situations. Which brings me back to Christmas. Jesus willingly walked into our human condition, ugly and messy and clunky and inconvenient as it is. I say I want to be like Him. Sometimes I even think I’m trending that direction. But between the justification part (Jesus paid for my sins so I could stand blameless before a Holy God) and the glorification part (Christ returns and we live in His presence forever), there is something called the sanctification part (where the Holy Spirit sets me apart for His purposes and does the work of transforming me into the image of Christ). That part is hard, y’all. And I have a long way to go.

I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  -Psalm 16:8 (ESV)