Historic Examination - Sanctification

    Questions: Are you going to on perfection? Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life? Are you earnestly striving after perfection in love?
    Answer: Yes, with God's help.

   One of my favorite aspects of John Wesley's explanation about grace is sanctification - that we are going on to perfection in love of God and love of neighbor. Perfection is a word that can make people nervous, it seems stiff and boring, so our first response when asked if we are perfect is to answer of course not - who would ever want to be perfect. But Wesley believed we are in the process of moving towards perfection - we are not there yet, but with God's help it is possible.

   There are some days as a pastor I don't quite know what I'm doing. I have training and skills, gifts and graces, but sometimes when all of that meets the daily reality of people's situations it isn't neat and tidy. Sometimes I don't have the right thing to say or do the correct thing. The truth is we all can screw up from time to time in our daily lives, but the ultimate question for me is - is that what defines us? Or is what defines us that we are a child of God moving towards loving God and our neighbor more deeply every day? Are we striving to be better for the sake of God's kingdom? Because that, to me, seems to be the most important thing.