Ever feel like your spiritual life is just a series of circles? You pray, you fail, you repent, and then you do it all over again next Tuesday. It's exhausting. Honestly, most of us treat personal growth like a self-help project with a religious coat of paint. But if you’ve ever picked up one of Andrew Davis's books on sanctification, you know he looks at it totally differently. He doesn't see a circle. He sees a mountain.
Andy Davis isn't your typical ivory-tower theologian. The guy was a mechanical engineer before he became a pastor. He graduated from MIT. You can actually feel that "how things work" mindset when he writes about the Bible. He isn't interested in vague, flowery language that sounds good on a Hallmark card but leaves you stuck in the same sin habits. He wants to know the mechanics of how a human soul actually changes.
Why Andrew Davis Books on Sanctification Are Different
Most people think of sanctification as "being a good person." Davis, particularly in his seminal work An Infinite Journey: Growing toward Christlikeness, argues that it's much more technical—and much more exciting—than that. He introduces this idea of two infinite journeys.
The first is the external journey. That's the one we usually talk about in church—missions, evangelism, and reaching the world. The second is the internal journey. That's the messy, grueling, and ultimately glorious process of your character being reconstructed to look like Jesus.
He makes a point that’s kinda uncomfortable: you can't have one without the other. If you try to do missions without growing in holiness, you're a hypocrite. If you try to grow in holiness while ignoring the world, you're just a monk in a bubble. They’re symbiotic.
The K-F-C-A Cycle
Because of that engineering brain, Davis developed a model for growth that he calls K-F-C-A. It’s not a fried chicken recipe. It stands for Knowledge, Faith, Character, and Action.
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- Knowledge: You start by actually knowing what the Bible says. Not just "feeling" it, but internalizing factual truths.
- Faith: This isn't just believing facts; it’s the "assurance of things hoped for." It’s when that knowledge takes root in your heart as a conviction.
- Character: As faith grows, it starts to warp your desires. You begin to love what God loves and—this is the hard part—hate what He hates.
- Action: Finally, your hands and feet move. You act because your character has changed.
The brilliance of this is that Action then feeds back into Knowledge. You learn more about God by obeying Him than you ever could by just reading about Him. It’s an upward spiral.
The Reality of the Struggle
Let's be real for a second. Sanctification is hard. Davis doesn't shy away from the "blood, sweat, and tears" aspect of the Christian life. In his sermons and writings, he often talks about the mortification of sin. It’s an old Puritan term, but basically, it means killing the parts of your nature that are toxic.
He’s a big advocate for Scripture memorization. Like, really big. He memorized the entire book of Isaiah. All 1,292 verses.
He argues that you can't fight a spiritual war with an empty holster. When temptation hits at 11:00 PM on a Tuesday, you don't need a vague feeling; you need a specific verse locked and loaded in your brain. This is a recurring theme across Andrew Davis's books on sanctification. He views the Word of God as the actual "sap" that flows from the vine into the branches. Without it, you just wither.
Avoiding the "Legalism vs. License" Trap
There’s this constant tug-of-war in Christian circles. On one side, you have legalism—the idea that you earn God’s love by being perfect. On the other, you have what theologians call antinomianism—the idea that because you’re forgiven, it doesn’t matter how you live.
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Davis threads the needle beautifully.
He’s very clear that your justification (your legal standing before God) is 100% a gift. It’s done. Finished. You can't add to it. But sanctification is a "Spirit-empowered human effort."
"I stand not in my sanctification... because your best Christian day is not good enough for Judgment Day. But Jesus’s righteousness is."
He once admitted in a lecture that while writing An Infinite Journey, he actually broke down and cried. He was writing about a specific area of holiness and realized he wasn't living up to it himself. That's the nuance. You're perfectly loved and accepted, yet you're called to a standard that is humanly impossible. That's why he calls it an "infinite" journey—it requires infinite power.
Practical Steps for the Journey
If you're looking to actually apply what Davis teaches, you can't just treat his books like a casual beach read. It’s more of a manual. Here is how you actually start the engine:
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- Audit your "Knowledge" intake. If you’re spending 10 hours a week on social media and 10 minutes in the Word, your K-F-C-A cycle is broken before it even starts.
- Pick a "Besetting Sin." We all have one. That one habit or thought pattern that keeps tripping you up. Davis suggests attacking it specifically with the "Sword of the Spirit" (memorized verses targeting that specific sin).
- Embrace the "Two Journeys." Stop separating your private "quiet time" from your public life. Start looking for ways to serve others while you’re working on your own heart.
- Don't ignore the "Character" phase. Most people try to jump straight from Knowledge to Action. They learn a rule and try to follow it. Davis says you have to let the Holy Spirit change your affections first. If you don't want to do the right thing, you'll eventually quit doing it.
The Finish Line
The goal of all this isn't to become a "better version of yourself." It's Christlikeness. Davis is obsessed with the idea of "glorification"—that one day, this grueling process will be over and we will actually be like Him.
Until then, we run. We fall, we get up, and we keep climbing. It's a long road, but as Davis often points out, it's the only one worth traveling.
If you want to get serious about this, start with An Infinite Journey. It’s a thick book—over 400 pages—but don't let that scare you. It’s designed to be a lifetime companion. Read a chapter, try to live it for a month, and then move on.
To take the first step, identify one specific area of your character that feels "stuck." Find three Bible verses that address that specific struggle and commit them to memory this week. This moves you from passive reading into the "Action" phase of the cycle, turning abstract theology into a lived reality.