"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation..."

Sanctification is the process by which God makes us more like Him.  Each day, we strive to be less like ourselves and more like our Creator.  A.A. Hodge eloquently explains,

"[it] is the work of God's grace by which those who believe in Christ are freed from sin and built up in holiness."

I was thinking about sanctification today as I watched a short clip on reverse graffiti, in which an artist uses soap and water to remove dirt from a surface in a certain pattern, creating a design in the process.  I realize this is my second post on graffiti here, but I assure you I have no hidden agenda.  The video is sponsored by Green Works Cleaners

My understanding of sanctification has always been that we are becoming more like our Creator as he draws us closer to Him--God is taking the bad and making it good.  The end result is glorification-- when we will be in the presence of God for eternity (1 Corinthians 13:12).

I thought about it today (and mind you it's just a thought, not a tenet of firm theology) and considered that rather than God taking our sinful hearts and changing them for good, He is taking our sinful hearts and restoring them to good-- cleaning the grime away like the artist in the video.

Of course, this isn't to say that our hearts are ever pure-- we're born sinful (Romans 3:10).  But there was a time when the heart of man was sinless (Genesis 1:27).  In a way, God, (the great Artist) is restoring our souls to the beauty they had before the dirt, grime, and pollution of sin overwhelmed humankind.