Sometimes we expericnce great personal success and spiritual progress; other times we suffer setbacks and seem to take a step backwrds. We pass through many watershed events- marriage, the birth of our children, the loss of a job, or a loved one. We also face countless experiences every day, which may seem trivial and unimportant, but God is causing all the events of our lives, great and small, tragic and triumphant, to work together for our ultimate good.
Those who are in Christ have been justified before God. But salvation means much more; it means that we are sanctified, that God actually leads us into holiness. As Michael Allen and company explain, our holiness is carried out in the present work of our sovereign, loving God. In Christ we are given life, not simply in name, but in fact. Praise the Lord, who delivers His children through every weakness. Though you struggle with sin, do not be discouraged; it is God who works in you, "both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).