By Steve Childers
When we make the decision to follow Christ, it is well taught in our churches that our sins are wiped clean and the saving grace of our Lord flows into our lives. 2Corinthians 5:17 says, "…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Protestants talk about this as being born again and even though Catholics do not use this terminology, they believe the same. Now after this happens, what is next? In 1John 2:17 we are told, "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God will live forever". In other words, we are given the power to over come the temptations of society. However, it is up to us to actually change our lives and follow the teachings of Christ as taught in the Bible.
This is a concept that is not often taught in our churches. According to many of our church leaders, once you become a Christian they will tell you to expect blessings to start flowing into your life. It is true your life will be changed, but you also have to look at your life and start changing how you act. The Bible lists what it considers sin and once we have Christ in our lives; we have the power to turn from it. We will not always be successful at it, but that is the great thing about our loving Lord. He is there to offer us forgiveness when we fall short, but do not misunderstand; the change is up to us.
Look at the following versus.
Matthew 18:3 "I tell you the truth, unless you change…"
1Peter 1:13 "…prepare your minds for action: be self-controlled; …do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance."
Ephesians 4:22 "…put off your old self."
Obviously each of these is only a part of the verse and I encourage you to read each of them in their entirety, so you can see they are not taken out of context. The point is that each of these were directed to the early Christians and all have a call to action. They each call on the Christian to make changes in their lives, it does not happen automatically. We have to make a conscious effort to first understand what sin is and then through the many choice or decisions we make daily, we need to turn from that sin.
There are so many Christians who hear about the many blessing of the Lord and wonder why their lives are so hard when they are going to church and want to live a good life. There are reasons for tough times, but so often the Christian has not read their Bible and does not understand what God is asking from them. To experience God's grace, we must be obedient, loving and serve those less fortunate. Now I know it sounds like we have to earn our blessings and that is not at all what I am saying. God will give us more than we can imagine, but if you study the Bible and teachings of Christ, it is full of verses telling us how to act, what to do and how we are to live our lives. We must take God's Word in its entirety, not just the part that is easy.
Steve Childers is the author of Catholic or Protestant What our Churches Should Be Teaching. Visit http://catholicorprotestant.com/ to learn more about the book and to receive FREE newsletters that includes an article he sends out weekly.
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