Day 16 Philippians 2:13 (Tootsie Pops and Sanctification)

(Every one will confess the Truth because of the Cross. So work out your salvation with fear and trembling when you are in the alone places of your life)

...Why? Because all that is happening to you and around you is under the control of God, remember? God is continuously working in you through the implanted Spirit. This is so you will be given the grace and power to desire and really want the things that are His will and purpose. These things are to to bring your salvation to completion! Don't fight it, it's His will!

I was sitting in a math class a half a billion years ago when the teacher (I don't even recall what grade it was) explained this theory of Greek thought called an asymptote. It suggests that if you travel toward a fixed point and continuously half the distance, you will never arrive at it...it's quite maddening really, especially to a young boy sitting in a math class.

There are few "problems" with the logic primarily that you have to never allow yourself to cheat in your imaginary walk over the next allotted "half distance". ..you walk five feet to an object ten feet away, then 2.5...and so on. Of course when total boredom sets in you just want to jump to the line and be done with it! Like with the old tootsie pop ad with the wise old owl.

This is what is happening to humans in this verse actually. God has implanted in us the Holy Spirit so that we would have the will and desire to continue to follow God's will in our lives. The ultimate goal is our sanctification, or becoming like the image of Christ. Since this image is ultimately unattainable (we can never be fully like Christ) we in effect are "halving the distance" to an point that is infinitely away! Ahhhhh! Since we have free will, we get bored and will never allow the God's desire and will to have it's way in and with us. We cheat and bite the Tootsie Pop...
God's desire is that we remain steadfast and under His will, just as Jesus did and not fight it (Romans 7:15). The mercy and grace is that He forgives us even when we cheat. His desire for us is that we finish the race and get to goal of sitting at the Throne of Grace forever enjoying the Father. Far better than the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, eh?