Rev. Aaron Long: Life is a Journey
Too many people today think of salvation, think of Christianity, as a one-time thing, a single event in their life, and miss out on the fact that our Christian life is a journey, a journey through this long dark valley of death into eternal life with Christ.
When we become a Christian through the waters of baptism, either as a child or adult depending on your tradition, we start the spiritual journey of our lives. We journey from conversion to discipleship, shaped and formed by our Church family through the words of scripture and the nature of worship. We are shaped by Bible studies and Sunday schools, by teachers, mentors, and friends into the people God means us to be through the power of Word and Sacrament, through the Holy Spirit.
As we walk this path we change. That process of change is called sanctification. Sanctification isn’t a one-time event, it isn’t an experience, it is a long slow period of growth in the faith that leads us through our entire life. We don’t change because we have to, it isn’t a simple tedious requirement. We change because we want to, because we love Jesus and want to fulfill His commandments.
We will fall, we will mess up, we will sin. We are not completely freed from sin in this life. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit, but we still have free will and will make mistakes. The good thing is though the blood of Christ forgives our sin if we repent and turn from it. The Holy Spirit empowers us to resist temptation and hold strong against the sin that besets us on all sides. On top of that, God gives us His visible Church, the body and bride of Christ, to come alongside us, to hold us accountable and to lift us up when we fall.
As we walk this pilgrim path we learn about God. We learn how to hear Him speak to us through His infallible and inspired Bible, teaching us, forming us, guiding us. We learn how to talk to Him through our prayers, whether together or in our prayer closet. We learn how to live for Him as He has commanded us through His commandments.
During our journey through this world, we learn more and more about God Himself. We learn that God is one in essence, and yet three in person in the mystery of the Holy Trinity: the Father who created us, the Son who saves us, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies, guides, and leads us. We have God in us and with us at all times.
We are saved into a new family, the covenant family of the visible Church. We get new brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, who weep with us and laugh with us. They come alongside us in all areas of our life.
Life is a journey; the problem is most of the Church has forgotten this. We need to remember we are on this journey; we need to get out there and walk it.
Welcome to the family. God loves you, and so do we.
