Asking the Right Question as the Starting Point for Sanctification

In John Wesley's theology, the life of discipleship begins at the moment of justification: when we accept the salvation that was effected by Christ and choose to live according to the example of Christ.  Through this decision, we experience rebirth and spend the rest of our lives trying to imitate Christ.  This is what Wesley called sanctification.  Wesley optimistically believed that through the intercession of God's grace, we could become a perfect mirror of how God was revealed in Christ.

The road to perfectly mirroring Christ begins with asking the right question about the task that lies before us.  The wrong question is, how we avoid punishment here and in the hereafter.  If this is our central motivation in seeking to live according to the example of Christ, then we have not been truly reborn and if the path we follow has our own survival as its endpoint, we are on the wrong path.  Christ's motivation was not to avoid punishment.  In fact, he intentionally journeyed to Jerusalem where he knew that death awaited.  So if we run away from Jerusalem we are traveling in the exact opposite direction that Christ traveled.

The right question is, how can we serve others and live our lives for others? How can we treat others as they want to be treated? How can we manifest love, kindness, equality, compassion, honesty, and grace? If we are asking this question, we are truly reborn and are seeking to live according to the example of Christ because we are mirroring the mentality of the One who intentionally traveled to Jerusalem to redeem the world.

The Observance of Lent

Today is the First Sunday of the Season of Lent, which marks the 40 day period prior to Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday.  Consequently, it is a time to remember what the Season of Lent means in our belief and practice.

Lent has largely been relegated to a renewal of our New Year's resolutions, which typically involve some form of dieting and exercise, practices that studies indicate are typically abandoned by January 3 or so.  Sacrificing something is incidental.  What Lent is really about is centering and focusing upon what the Jesus Story means and what it means for us to imitate Christ.  Christ began his ministry through a forty day period in the desert, which reflects the forty day season of Lent.  Lent reminds us that we are called to imitate Christ; as Christ's ministry was about seeking the salvation of the world, we are called to renew our commitment to living according to his example by seeking to discern how God is calling us to do the same in our own little corners of the world.

Without living according to the example of Christ, we cannot experience resurrection and renewal.  Without Lent, we cannot truly grasp the significance and meaning of the empty tomb.