Still More on the Resurrection and Sanctification
A new day rising over the deadness of the valley—reminding us that resurrection life is already shining in us.
Devotional Source: Day by Day by Grace by Bob Hoekstra
Photo Credit: Image courtesy of Unsplash.com
In today’s reflection, Bob Hoekstra continues to explore how the resurrection of Christ affects our present walk, not just our future hope. He points out that Paul’s desire in Philippians 3:10–11 wasn’t simply to participate in the future resurrection of the body—something already secured by faith—but to know Christ so deeply that His resurrection life would be experientially expressed in the here and now.
Paul wasn’t speaking of salvation in the future tense, but sanctification in the present. He longed for a life increasingly conformed to the pattern of Christ’s death and empowered by the life of His resurrection—a lifestyle marked by freedom from the ways of the world and animated by heaven’s reality. This “resurrected living” comes through deeper fellowship with Christ—especially in our sufferings and in the daily dying to the self-life (the flesh’s desires) that allows Christ’s life to be seen.
What Paul sought was not moral improvement or spiritual accolades, but an ever-deepening intimacy with Jesus that transforms how we think, respond, and live. This is what it means to attain the resurrection life now—not just waiting for heaven, but letting heaven be seen in us now, by His power and presence.
Personalized Journal Entry in the Holy Spirit’s Voice Through Scripture
My beloved, I have already made you alive together with Christ. You were once dead in your sins, but now you are alive in Me. You have been raised with Christ, and your life is now hidden with Me in God. I am not asking you to strive to resurrect yourself—resurrection life is already yours, because I dwell in you.
Each moment you yield to Me is a moment of resurrection. I lead you not only to believe in Him but also to suffer with Him, for in every suffering, there is fellowship. In every death to your fleshly desires, there is the fragrance of new life. You are being conformed to the image of My Son—not by your effort, but by My work within you. This is what I began in you, and I will bring it to completion.
You press on because I am the One drawing you forward, the One who laid hold of you for this very purpose. Set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at My right hand. Let your mind dwell there too. For though you live in this world, you are not of it—you are of Me. I have raised you to walk in newness of life.
So do not look at the deadness around you or within you. I am your life. I have given you everything you need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called you by His own glory and excellence. Keep coming to know Him, and you will find that you are already living out the very resurrection you seek.
—Ephesians 2:5–6, Colossians 3:1–3, Philippians 1:29, Romans 6:4, Philippians 3:10–14, 2 Peter 1:3
Prayer of Trust
Father, thank You that I’m not waiting for resurrection life to begin one day in heaven. That life is already mine because Christ is in me. I rest in the truth that You’ve raised me up with Him and seated me with Him in the heavenly places. I don’t need to chase holiness or strive for a future version of myself—I only need to yield to the risen Christ who is already living in me. I trust You to reveal this resurrection life in me, moment by moment, even in trials or dying to self. Let my life today be a quiet display of Your power and presence, not by my efforts, but by Your life within me.