Drilling = Sanctification

This post is for Nick Langford. Nick loved analogies and typically came up with ones that made sense, but not always. Hopefully this one is not the latter.

Sanctification is like drilling a well.

Let that sink in. Sanctification is like drilling a well. If you did not realize it, I just compared the entire Christian life to drilling a hole in the ground. Sounds great, right?

For those that don’t know, I will explain the basics of drilling a well and then hopefully make some sense of how this is much like sanctification. Pictures might help.

To drill a well you need a bit, drill pipe and mud. The bit goes on the bottom and is bigger than the drill pipe. To drill, you rotate the bit and put weight on it with the drill pipe to make progress. The mud is constantly circulated down the drill pipe and then back to the surface between the drill pipe and the newly drilled hole. The mud is the most important part of the system. The mud helps get what you just drilled out of the way so that you can drill further down. If you do not get good circulation of the mud, then you are just leaving the cuttings (pieces of rock, clay, sand that you break up as you drill) in the hole. This is why the mud is the most important part of the process. If these cuttings bunch up above the bit, you can get ‘packed-off’ or ‘develop a boot’, which can cause you to get stuck and never complete the well. At the surface, you might never see the problem until it is too late. As long as you are receiving a good amount of cuttings at the surface, then you are making progress, cleaning out the hole and increasing your chances of finishing the well. If you are not getting a good amount of cuttings at the surface, then you are having issues down hole. It is very important to stop and address the problem or you might lose the hole completely. It is important to be patient while circulating and make sure the cuttings are being removed from the hole. It is just as important to take remedial action to fix any ‘boot’ or ‘pack-off’ that you may have developed, or you’ll never finish the well and get your pipe out.

Alright, that is enough of the oil-field chatter. How is this like sanctification, you might be asking. First, let’s define a few terms.

Justification – the moment or series of moments in which God transforms the heart of man to love God with everything; when the eyes are opened to see that God is the most Glorious being and worth the Christian’s life; the moment or series of moments of conversion; the applying of Jesus’ blood to the Christian to cover the sin; post-justification God sees Jesus’ perfect blood and not our sin-filled bodies; a position of right-standing before God

Sanctification – the rest of life post-justification for the Christian; the process of God removing sin from the Christian’s life; the process of God making the Christian more like Himself; 

At church tonight, we were talking about some stuff that made me ask some questions. Why is it so important to remove all the little sins/issues from our lives? This is going to be a long hard battle that will never end, what’s the point, because we’ll always have little issues and battles? Why do the little things matter? It’s an endless battle, why keep fighting?

I think the easy answer is that you keep removing the little sins/issues/struggles from your life, because over time they will build up and turn into something much bigger. This can be seen in the analogy. If you don’t remove the cuttings, then you’ll create a ‘pack-off’ or ‘boot’ which can be devastating or mean imminent failure. Such is life. If we allow Satan a small foothold, then He will slowly gain an even bigger foothold, and will eventually wreck our lives. Remember, the enemy is out to steal, kill and destroy, not just cause small frustrations. We must remove the little things because they stand in the way of us getting to the ultimate destination – drinking deep from the Living Water.

Patience in times of waiting is important. It is important to take time to clean out the hole or come out of the hole when it is necessary. Now, does the bit or pipe understand why they are suddenly not drilling anymore? No. They can’t see why they’re coming out of the hole and not drilling. But the driller surely knows what is best. If he allows the little things to remain, then they won’t ever get to where God wants them to go. God wants us to deal with the issues for our greater joy and His greatest glory. 

God is taking us somewhere that we cannot see. He has a purpose for our miseries, troubles and trials that we cannot see. He is taking us to a place which is the full, abundant life of drinking deep of the Living Water, and to get us there He must remove the junk in our lives. Also, along the way He is teaching us that He is all we need and is worth all the trouble and fight.

This analogy needs some working on, but it is getting there. There is much more there that I did not hit on. It makes sense to me because this is the stuff I deal with everyday, but it might not hit home with you. Any thoughts on how to make the analogy better or is it completely off? Let me know your thoughts or ideas.