I’m 24 and have been a believer for a little over three years, and have found that as a younger and more immature Christian, this is something I, and those around me, need to focus on a great deal, in a range of areas of daily life.
Hello Alex,
Others have mentioned some books that I agree may be very helpful--especially works by John Owen. My contribution is my favorite passage on this subject from a book of Titus. Four verses that speak about what God has already done for you and what he will effectively train you to do while you remain in this life. Living the kind of life, you so clearly long for.
Titus 2:11-14
11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
In verse 11 - We have mention of the
true grace of God. The grace that actually brings salvation. And we can rejoice that we have a living hope that we too are included among the "all men" intended. We do now have full legal righteousness before God. What we have to do is get our weak flesh more lined up with what we are, in fact.
In verse 12 - I want to mention the first word, "teaching." I don't have my Greek tools in front of me at this time; maybe somebody else can look it up for me and post the word. The word means more than just teaching. It is the word for
training an athlete or a racehorse. This grace of God, which has brought us salvation, also comes with a training program that effectively works progressive sanctification
in us--the fruit of the Spirit. It gets the job done. It doesn't just give us a little encouragement. The ESV has the better word "training," which brings the meaning out better. So put your shoulder to the work and trust God that your work will be successful by His mighty grace. Sanctification comes as a package deal with the Justification you already have.
Verse 13 - we are encouraged to keep our eye on the prize. This life, which Owen calls "the womb of eternity," is just the beginning. This present life will be a struggle every step of the way, but we will make progress. Some more than others, some less. I have been a Christian for about 47 years, but it is only in the past five or six years that I've noticed some progress in areas of my life I struggled with for 40 years. Remember what the Apostle said, "if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."
For verse 14 - I am merely going to repaste the verse itself for you to read over and meditate on the wonders of what God has done and will do for us.
[Our Saviour Jesus Christ]
14. Who gave himself for us, that he might
redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Ed Walsh
Pardon any typos that may have slipped through. I dictated this to my tablet, and you know how that can go.
