PIC: Baptism with Pastor Greg Laurie after SoCal Harvest Crusade July, 2023; Pirates Cove CA
When a person accepts Christ as Savior and Lord, we get baptized. A transformation journey begins.
We start “un-becoming” (un-doing) what we were before Christ — and little by little “conforming” to Jesus. The “pre-Christ” conforming to the world starts getting un-done as we begin our journey with Christ. Has that been your experience?
“According to the Bible, if you accept the Lordship of Christ, having accepted Jesus as your Savior, having repented of your sins and asked God to forgive you… then you are “in Christ”, and everything is new for you.” – Source: 301 things you are in Christ
Our spiritual journey
From a humanist point of view, Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho spoke of “un-becoming”. He is on the right track (but missing any mention of Jesus):
“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything,” Fernandez said [quoting Coelho].
“It’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”
– Source: His ‘un-becoming’: A tale of resurrection |By James Rainey, reporting from Berkeley
From a biblical point of view of our spiritual life, when we turn to Jesus we are miraculously changed in an instant with new birth in Christ. We get “born again”, as Jesus explained it in John 3. We stop living between two opinions.
The truth is: We are not right with God – until we are born again. It is THEN, once we are legally forgiven in God’s Courts – a life-long process begins (called “sanctification”).
It is THEN, with the Holy Spirit inside us, that we begin to “work out” being more and more like Christ in our daily living. That’s the Christian’s journey.
The good fight is the Spirit-filled “un-becoming” life (as per Paulo Coelho’s usage, not the common usage unbecoming!), where little by little we undo the ways of the enemies of our soul.
We become more and more faithful. We become more and more like Jesus – living righteous… what we are meant to be.
Those not following Jesus
Unbelievers: you should take heed to passages that talk about you in the End Days – as those…
…who did not believe the truth [about their sin, and the need for salvation through Christ], but instead took pleasure in unrighteousness.
– 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (verse 12)
Followers of Jesus
This is our mandate:
“Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead],
keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value].
3 For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, [a]appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” – Source: Colossians 3:1-4
FOR MORE:
Right on the edge of trusting him forever
Run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us
Legally damned – legally forgiven
Growing into our natural new life in Christ
The non-stop work of God inside you and me
The End Times Fight you might not win
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