What is the Born Again Christian life really supposed to be like? To begin with, the Born Again Christian life is supposed to be a life lived by faith. It is by faith that we enter into being Born Again, and it is by faith that we live it out, in our lives each day. When we begin the Christian life by coming to Christ for forgiveness of sin, we understand that what we seek cannot be obtained by any other means than by faith. We cannot work our way to heaven, because nothing we could ever do would be sufficient. Those who believe they can attain eternal life by keeping rules and regulations—a list of do’s and don’ts—deny what the Bible clearly teaches. But that no one is justified by the Law in the sight of God is clear, for, The just shall live by faith--Galatians 3:11. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day rejected Christ because He told them this very truth, that all their righteous deeds were worthless and that only faith in their Messiah would save them. In Romans 1, Paul says that the Gospel of Grace, through Jesus Christ is the power that saves us, the gospel being the good news that all who believe in Him, and what He did on the Cross and in the Resurrecton, will have eternal life. When we enter into the Christian life by faith in this good news, we see our faith grow as we come to know more and more about the God who saved us. The gospel of Christ actually reveals God to us as we live to grow closer to Him each day. Romans 1:17 says, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” So part of the Christian life is diligent reading and study of the Word, accompanied by prayer for understanding and wisdom and for a closer, more intimate relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is also supposed to be one of death TO SELF, in order to live a life by faith. Paul told the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”--Galatians 2:20. Being crucified with Christ means that our old nature has been nailed to the cross and has been replaced by a new nature which is Jesus the Christ’s-- 1 Corinthians 5:17. He who loved us and died for us now lives in us, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the life we live is by faith in Him. It means sacrificing our own desires, ambitions, and glories and replacing them with those of Christ. We can only do this by HIS POWER, through the faith that He gives us by His grace. Part of the Christian life is praying to that purpose. The Born Again Christian life is also supposed to persevere to the end. Hebrews 10:38-39 addresses this issue by quoting from the Old Testament prophet Habukkuk: “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” God is not pleased with one who “draws back” from Him after making a commitment, but those who live by faith will never draw back, because they are kept by the Holy Spirit who assures us that we will continue with Christ until the end--Ephesians 1:13-14. The writer of Hebrews goes on to verify this truth in verse 39: “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. The true believer is one who believes to the end. So to Sum up, the Born Again Christian life is one lived by faith in the God who saved us, empowers us, seals us for heaven, and by whose power we are kept forever. The day-to-day life of faith is one that grows and strengthens as we seek God in His Word and through prayer and as we unite with other Christians whose goal of Christlikeness is similar to our own, as explained in Ephesians 4:13-15 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in All aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, https://youtube/watch?v=Tiv-nesIgDY
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:23:29 +0000
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