Making the Whole Journey
In my previous blog noted that the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ saved us from God’s wrath. We weren’t involved in the process; God did what was necessary to assuage His wrath so He could forgive us. Our part is to believe the message that Christ’s death is sufficient to make sinners right with God.
A common mistake evangelicals make is to believe that turning away God’s wrath is the whole story of salvation. We must believe that this was done for us, but that profession begins a new path of life in which God works to actually save you, not from Himself, but from yourself – and for Himself.
Our sin is refusal to submit to God. We enthrone ourselves as sovereigns of our own lives, claiming the right to determine our own truths, what is good and evil for us. But our ability to do this is flawed and our flawed selves are corrupting ourselves, each other, and our larger world.
Saving us requires changing that. God stepped in to save us and the world we’re ruining. He promises to make a new creation, a world peopled by those that long to get back to the original plan of submission to God and His wishes in everything.
Christ’s death forgives us and puts us on the path to the new creation. But forgiveness is only a first step that makes ‘salvation’ – actual changes in us – possible. We set out on the road that rescues us from ourselves. The Spirit of God enters your life and with every step takes off “the old you” and puts on the “new you”, constantly helping you to adjust and get comfortable with the fit. This is how God has chosen to create citizens of the kingdom who want to do His will on earth.
I have found that when evangelicals refer to “salvation”, they often refer only to the first step of faith onto that road. The rest of the road, the actual path of change, is often neglected or treated as optional. Many think it doesn’t matter if you see the journey through to its end. Merely stepping onto the road, they believe, is as good as making the whole journey.
One must take the first step of faith onto the road, trusting in Christ’s death to forgive sin. But the whole point of stepping onto the road is to continue following Jesus, being changed and made more like Him by your journey with Him down that road to its final destination: eternal life in the kingdom of God.
Our salvation requires the entire journey – start to finish.
Note: Our statement of faith puts these ideas in theological terms under the following points:
D. We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, to convict men, to regenerate the believing sinner, and to indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
E. We believe that man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is therefore lost and totally marked by corruption and evil. Only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.
G. We believe that all who believe in Jesus Christ are regenerated, indwelt, baptized, and sealed by the Holy Spirit and so are secured for the day of redemption. We believe that those so secured will persevere in the faith of Jesus Christ and produce fruit evidencing their relationship to God.
A common mistake evangelicals make is to believe that turning away God’s wrath is the whole story of salvation. We must believe that this was done for us, but that profession begins a new path of life in which God works to actually save you, not from Himself, but from yourself – and for Himself.
Our sin is refusal to submit to God. We enthrone ourselves as sovereigns of our own lives, claiming the right to determine our own truths, what is good and evil for us. But our ability to do this is flawed and our flawed selves are corrupting ourselves, each other, and our larger world.
Saving us requires changing that. God stepped in to save us and the world we’re ruining. He promises to make a new creation, a world peopled by those that long to get back to the original plan of submission to God and His wishes in everything.
Christ’s death forgives us and puts us on the path to the new creation. But forgiveness is only a first step that makes ‘salvation’ – actual changes in us – possible. We set out on the road that rescues us from ourselves. The Spirit of God enters your life and with every step takes off “the old you” and puts on the “new you”, constantly helping you to adjust and get comfortable with the fit. This is how God has chosen to create citizens of the kingdom who want to do His will on earth.
I have found that when evangelicals refer to “salvation”, they often refer only to the first step of faith onto that road. The rest of the road, the actual path of change, is often neglected or treated as optional. Many think it doesn’t matter if you see the journey through to its end. Merely stepping onto the road, they believe, is as good as making the whole journey.
One must take the first step of faith onto the road, trusting in Christ’s death to forgive sin. But the whole point of stepping onto the road is to continue following Jesus, being changed and made more like Him by your journey with Him down that road to its final destination: eternal life in the kingdom of God.
Our salvation requires the entire journey – start to finish.
Note: Our statement of faith puts these ideas in theological terms under the following points:
D. We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, to convict men, to regenerate the believing sinner, and to indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
E. We believe that man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is therefore lost and totally marked by corruption and evil. Only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.
G. We believe that all who believe in Jesus Christ are regenerated, indwelt, baptized, and sealed by the Holy Spirit and so are secured for the day of redemption. We believe that those so secured will persevere in the faith of Jesus Christ and produce fruit evidencing their relationship to God.