That one bugs me. The theology behind it is far from biblical. Yes, Christians are forgiven, but if there is no change in our lives, we better examine ourselves. We might be fakes.
I learned early that when Christ came into my life, God was going to use all things, His Word, circumstances, trials, blessings, relationships, everything, to transform me into the image of His Son. He began with a notable change in my attitude toward people. I used to be hostile, not caring, and suddenly found myself liking others. How novel!
In the Old Testament, God’s people were in slavery in Egypt. In many ways this depicts how all humanity is in slavery to sin. As the bondage deepened, they cried out to God for deliverance. He sent Moses to lead them out of their bondage to a new place, a land “flowing with milk and honey.”
The task was not an easy one. Despite hating their situation in Egypt, they fought God along the way. They wanted freedom, but didn’t like His terms. However, God was in charge.
Moses trusted that God knew best. He became frustrated with the reluctance of His people and their rebellions. At one point he prayed, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
God replied, “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.”
They were forgiven and delivered from bondage in a spectacular way, but God was not finished with them. For centuries, He walked with them, continued to work among them, and they (or at least some of them) trusted Him and were noted as God’s chosen people.
Their experience was a shadow, a ‘type’ of the Christian life. Jesus delivers His people from the bondage of sin. We come out of our slavery to it, sometimes kicking and resisting, only to find that God has just begun to work with us and that He uses many things to change us, including His Word. One New Testament verse describes some ways He uses it: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Forgiveness is only the beginning. I am the same because I can relate to everyone else—I have the same weaknesses, same struggles, same problems and hang-ups as they do, but because of Jesus, I have a different Master, a different ‘rule book,’ a different hope, a changed focus, and a radical new world view.
For the thief on the cross beside Jesus, forgiveness was enough to get him into the kingdom, but he too would be radically transformed when he joined Jesus in glory. “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Yet even that glorious promise has an application for right now. It adds, “AND
everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”Yes, we are forgiven, but because we are—praise God—change is our destiny, and it starts the moment Jesus moves in.
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