The Christ Follower's Relationship To Sin...

Many who claim the name of Jesus show little or no evidence of being saved by the way they live their lives! Quite often it's nearly impossible to distinguish those who profess to be Christ followers from those who are not. It ought not to be so! Many who profess to be Christ followers are outwardly blatant sinners who show little or no concern for spiritual things. For these people, being a Christ follower is like putting on or taking off a piece of clothing. In other words, they "put on" their Christian appearance when it suits them. The question that naturally arises is: "Are all who call themselves Christ followers truly saved and going to heaven when they depart from this life?" The answer is, sadly, no! Many who call themselves Christ followers are in truth not saved. Jesus said these words, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter" (Matthew 7:21). At some point these words of Jesus have to matter to us! The Lord is saying it's not the ones who just call Jesus, Lord, who'll enter heaven, but those that do the will of the Father. In other words, the true Christ follower is the one to whom Jesus is in fact Lord! The Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us that true Christ followers live for the Lord and obey Him! The Word of God clearly teaches that when a person is saved his/her life is drastically changed! Yet, there are many who profess to be Christ followers whose lives remain virtually unchanged. The Bible presents genuine salvation in an entirely different light. The Bible describes saving faith as faith that's life changing! It also has some very profound and quite revealing things about the relationship of the true Christ follower to sin. Being insensitive to sin legitimately brings a professing Christ follower's salvation into question. Why? Because a truly born again Christ follower has a changed attitude toward sin than the unsaved. This change is called being born again (John 3:3,5-8). What this means is that the Spirit of God creates something new. It means that the Holy Spirit establishes Himself as the new ruling principle of our life. That which is begotten by the Holy Spirit, is permeated by the character of the Holy Spirit. We must understand and embrace that the new birth is the coming into our life of the Holy Spirit to create a completely new array of desires, yearnings, loves, and longings. We are not the same! Your move. Be encouraged!