Are the pressures in my life making me more holy?

Or are they making me more unholy?

And how would I know the difference?

This is such a great question.

A lot of our emails come in from Christians who are feeling extra pressure in life and

that is certainly true in an email from a young mom named Victoria who is facing the challenges

of raising little ones.

Hello Pastor John, she writes,

Since becoming a mom, I find myself battling sin like never before.

New sins that I never recall struggling with are popping up seemingly out of nowhere,

especially in the season with a two-year-old and a newborn.

My desire is to be a wife and mother to the glory of God, but I feel I have never been

further away from this goal.

Are these new pressures of motherhood sanctifying me or making me more unholy?

And how can I tell the difference?

Because I often feel as though I am becoming more unholy by them.

This is a tremendously important question because it gets at a reality of sanctification that

is often overlooked, namely that pride and various forms of that sin can lie latent, unseen

in the forgiven, spirit, indwelt, Christian, often giving the impression to the Christian

himself and to others that we are more holy than we are.

I picture Christians in this condition like a glass of water while the glass of water

is very still sitting on the counter.

...