Footsteps #175

2Cor.5:16-21 continued. The ground is level at the foot of the Cross. Everyone has to come to God the same way–humbly acknowledging their sin and trusting in the sacrifice of the Saviour. We’re all sinners, all of us have fallen short of God’s standards, and therefore we all need a miracle from God Himself in order to have our sins forgiven and to become what God intended for us to be. And God has done just that! Anyone who receives Christ becomes a new creation. (V17) What a statement of the transforming power of Christ! If we receive Him as our personal Saviour, we don’t just adopt a new philosophy of life; we don’t just get a new set of friends; we don’t just have a new destination. We actually become a new creation. We are born again and everything changes–our actions, our thoughts, our habits, our goals, dreams, our attitudes, everything! And if it doesn’t, i.e. if there is no difference in our lives since we made a profession of faith, the conclusion must follow (how can you escape it?) that the profession was not real, that we are not, in fact, “in Christ.” (People who grow up in church can struggle with this concept.) If the change of life is lacking, there is good reason to suppose that the heart still languishes in unbelief. There may be emotional affirmation, there may be selective obedience to imperatives. There may even be impressive displays of religious activity. But having written that I can’t help but remember the chilling words of Jesus in Matt.7:23.  

When Jesus called for taking up the cross and following him, he probably had something more radical in mind than motoring to an air-conditioned sanctuary, amen-ing the show, and returning to ‘real’ life. We must not minimize the powerful, effective, life-changing nature of a true conversion experience! But when this metamorphosis happens, do we get any credit for it? No! God is the one who took the initiative in declaring His former enemies to be His friends. It says so in v18: If He did not act first, we would remain His eternal enemies.