Perhaps better questions may be...

I was thinking the other day about all this I've been learning: sanctification comes through my daily life. The ordinary places are where the Holy Spirit works supernaturally. 


After summer or winter break, all the college students and other frolickers come back to town, and Small Group starts up again. It's wonderful to have everyone together again, and of course, the questions begin...


How was your break?
What'd you do?
Where'd you go?
How was your walk with the Lord?
Were you able to get in the Word?
Were you able to go to church on the weekends?
Etc...etc...


Those are all wonderful questions to ask. I genuinely want to know how their break went, and I know how hard it can be to keep "loving like Jesus" all those family members that can drive you insane.


However, since I've been seeing how I'm really changed through the dailiness of life, I think there may be a better question to ask, alongside all the other great inquiries.


Did you love and serve your family well?
If so, how?
If not, why not?
What made these things difficult/easy?
Do you need to repent of any actions words?
Do you need to be reconciled to anyone?


These are hard questions, but they are good, heart-issue questions. They bring together the spiritual disciplines (going to church, reading the Bible, fellowship with other believers...) with our outward behaviors (what we say, how we say it, how we spend our time, how we serve others...). 


Doing Christian stuff is hypocrisy if I spend the rest of my time serving myself, dishonoring others, and tearing others down with my words. However, doing Christian stuff is sincerity if I spend the rest of my time serving others, honoring others, and building others up with my words. 


(Disclaimer: I am not perfect and will sin again God and others. Repenting and being reconciled to them is not hypocrisy. It's recognizing who I am and that I'm continually in need of Jesus' work in my heart.)


I hope to spend some time tomorrow thinking through these questions for myself. When my Small Group ladies return, I hope to talk through these questions with them, as well. 

"Rather than seeing sanctification as a linear progression from bad to better, the Christian life is more accurately described circularly; we return again and again to the cross." ~Matt Johnson

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
~the Apostle Paul, letter to the Ephesians 4:1-3