Romans 6:4
"Buried with Him...that...even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Oswald Chambers opens with discussion regarding "entire sanctification" and his observation that "No one enters into the experience of entire sanctification without going through a "white funeral" - the burial of the old life."
Later he asks "Have you had your 'white funeral', or are you sacredly playing the fool with your soul? Is there a place in your life marked as the last day, a place to which memory goes back with chastened and extraordinarily grateful remembrance, 'Yes, it was then, at that 'white funeral,' that I made an agreement with God."
My memory takes me back immediately to that place of grateful remembrance. The sofa I sat upon as I had my white funeral. Things changed in that moment. I changed in that moment. I recognized the depth of my sin and my depravity apart from and actually against God. I bowed my head to speak personally with a Holy God who I would come to know, among other roles in my life, as Father. I acknowledged those sins against Him and asked His forgiveness. From that moment forward my life has never been the same.
With overwhelming gratitude for the agreement that I was invited into at that moment...
Can you mark that moment? Your grateful remembrance of your own white funeral? I would love to hear about it.
Gracious and compassionate God...thank you for stepping into my life that day...for opening my eyes that I might see.
I pray clear sight for all who read this blog.
And freedom to ask questions if needed.
Humble & Thankful....beyond words!!!
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Oh! Oswald Chambers believed in entire sanctification! What a Wesleyan ;)
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note, I don't believe that I have had the white funeral in all areas of my life, nor do I expect to. I believe that the day of my salvation, at that moment, I was pure and clean. Then, I walked back to my chair and probably thought something about someone that wasn't very nice and *boom* I was dirty again. That sin nature of mine...
However, as I mature, I can see areas - sometimes small, othertimes huge blind spots in my life - that have undergone the white funeral. It almost always is the culmination of months of agony and despair as I struggle with life in a head-on collision. And then, at that perfect moment, God speaks to me. The fight inside me dies, and I am birthed new in that area. Sure, I expect to face new struggles, perhaps in old areas, but I will be using weapons forged from previous victory when I fight next time.
So a white funeral of sanctification. No, I don't think so. But a constant rinse and spin cycle from the Maker - always. In fact, my fingers are sort of prune-like from all those washings.
Great post!! That was a fun one to ponder.