Slow Sanctification

“I am not what I ought to be – but I am not what I once was.”

​John Newton, author of the well-known hymn, “Amazing Grace” was a former slave ship captain and was heavily invested in the slave trade for many years of his life. He later converted to Christianity but remained involved with the slave trade for some time before becoming an abolitionist and renouncing his former profession. Newton’s “slow obedience” to stand against slavery is regarded by some as an inauthentic conversion. But his life demonstrates a truth that many Christians experience - the battle against indwelling sin to conform our lives to full obedience to Christ. Obedience is produced by faith in Christ, not the other way around. Sometimes obedience takes time - of which Newton himself said, “I am not what I ought to be – but I am not what I once was.”