Do you know what’s special about today? This is the day that the Lord wants to change your life. This is the day that he created and that he has been preparing for you. Each and every day that you open your eyes is the day that the Lord wants to do a work transformation.
We really like that word, “transformation.” It makes this thing of old homes shining like new. We love seeing something that has been transformed. Most of us love to see that remodel when it’s all finished, but if you’ve ever been in the middle of a remodel, you know how messy it can get. That’s the part of transformation that’s not quite as fun.
In the Bible, this process is called sanctification. It is the process by which the Lord does that transforming work. As we walk with Jesus, we long for true righteousness and holiness. In short, we want to look more like Jesus. This process is beautiful, but it is a battle–a battle against our sin, a battle against our pride, and a fight against everything in us that doesn’t want to obey.
You see, when a person puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, they are justified. That means that they go from being guilty to not guilty. It is a positional change that puts us in a right standing with God. It is the incredible beginning of our relationship with Jesus. But it’s just the beginning.
Every single day that we live in that place of justification, we are growing and learning what it means to be a justified child of God. Think of it this way: if you suddenly came into an inheritance, your situation would change immediately. However, it might take a while for you to realize exactly what that means. It would be a huge learning curve, and you would have to learn what it means to live like that inheritance belongs to you.
Jesus paid the brutal price of our justification with his own life and his own blood. If we accept his finished work on the cross, but we don’t let it transform us, then we’re ignoring the life he died to give us. Every day that we live is the next line of the story. As we realize our own inheritance, it begins to shape every part of our lives. We need to let Jesus’ beautiful gift change us from the inside out. That is sanctification. As we obey him, we grow closer to him, and the closer we are to him, the more we obedient we become.
That, my friend, is why today is special. Your salvation was like a wedding between you and Jesus, a celebration that fundamentally changed your spiritual situation. But weddings aren’t just fancy parties. They represent the beginning of a new way of life, a relationship, and a journey. The next step of that journey starts today.