Marks of a True Christian

She says her attitude is not always good but if she waits a minute a better one comes up. As I read a section in Charnock and another in the NT, I have to smile once again. I also have to ask God to help me think before I react.

My protests are mild. A driver cuts me off. A clerk short-changes me. Someone is rude, or ignores me. Blah, blah, blah. She is ordered to do something painful, given conflicting information, or no information, but she waits on that better attitude. I so often don’t.

Charnock talks about God being “slow to anger, and great in power” in that His power moderates His anger. He is not at the command of His passions, as many of us are, but instead  restrains His anger even when provoked to exercise it. His power over Himself is the cause of his slowness to wrath. 

In Numbers 14:13-19, Moses pleads for pardon for the people on that basis, that God will not clear the guilty, but is “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression.” I find it easy to be angry and slow to abound in love, quite the opposite. But not all of His people are like that. I am watching this one who is provoked but waits for a better attitude to come along. Anger may be powerful but as Charnock says, it is a want of a power over self that makes us do unbecoming things when provoked. A prince that can bridle his passion is a king over himself, as well as over his subjects. God is slow to anger, because He is great in power: He hath no less power over himself than over His creatures: He can sustain great injuries without an immediate and quick revenge: He hath the power of patience, as well as the power of justice.

For this reason, He can tell me to be like Him, not in the sense where He can deal with evil, but in the restraining of that desire so I may love like He loves. He speaks loudly to me, not only through the example of another, but in these words that describe what He wants from me:

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:9–21)

PRAY: Lord, Your Word and Your people are to show the world what You are like, not in Your wrath for that belongs only to You, but in Your power to be merciful, to hate evil but leave it to You to deal with those who oppose me in any way. When I think about it, the rude and unkind people are not my greatest enemy. Instead, the hardest battles are in trying to put down my own selfishness. Grant me great willingness to abhor the bad attitudes that pop up far too easily in my own life. I am my own worst enemy.

Evidence of genuine faith

When God gives eternal life, the recipient experiences change. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is clear: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Whether faith is genuine isn’t whether changes have happened but the nature of those changes. One of them is that a genuine Christian loves God and His people. Another is that he hates sin and turns from it. Today, Tozer writes that hating sin and loving righteousness go together. I cannot claim one and dismiss the other. As one OT prophet says, God is looking for both:

“For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:12–15)

Tozer gives examples. For instance, I cannot claim to love honesty without hating dishonesty, nor can I claim to love purity without hating impurity, or say I love truth without hating lying and deceitfulness. If I am a child of God and growing in likeness to Jesus Christ, I will hate evil just as He hated evil.

This is part of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In my human sinfulness, I cannot do it. That old nature is drawn to the darkness and listens to the lies of the devil. My selfishness seeks to overthrow the will of God when He asks me to sacrifice what I want for His glory or the sake of others. Yes, I am a new creation and a child of God, yet still plagued by all kinds of opposition to His goodness.

Understanding the language of the Bible involves realizing the object of its words. Sometimes they are addressed to a Spirit-filled believer. Sometimes they are spoken to a rebellious sinner or to a Christian who has stepped outside the will of God. Sometimes the words are for a disobedient person, or an obedient person. The Scriptures are both universal and personal, depending on the work of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the person who is reading. This must be done carefully in that we are not saying “God told me” when our ideas come from our old nature or worse, the devil.

The Bible is a living book with the power to build faith or challenge it, depending on what is needed. It can teach or undo false teaching, lift or humiliate, produce sadness over sin or joy over salvation. This is one reason there are so many ‘interpretations’ — God says the same thing to others as He does to me, but we each hear it through the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. One verse does not have two different meanings but it can have two or more applications. Our common ground is loving good and hating evil, loving Jesus Christ and hating sin. Disunity happens when we focus on our differences instead of those universals upon which we agree.

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Jesus, I’m thankful that You changed my attitude toward sin. While the world, the flesh and the devil make their appeal, my heart is drawn to You and away from sin. For this and other reasons, I know that I belong to You; You have changed my heart and mind about many things, even to give me the desire for change, for renewal, for new life always fresh flowing into me. I love You, dear Savior.