What a statement of the transforming power of Christ! If we receive Him as our personal Savior, we don’t just adopt a new philosophy of life; we don’t just get a new set of friends; we don’t just have a new destination. We actually become a new creation. We are born again and everything changes–our actions, our thoughts, our habits, our goals, dreams, our attitudes, everything! And if it doesn’t, i.e. if there is no difference in our lives since we made a profession of faith, the conclusion must follow (how can you escape it?) that the profession was not real, that we are not, in fact, “in Christ.” I was convicted by the words of Robert Yarbrough, one of our profs at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School: Where . . . (life change)...is lacking, there is good reason to suppose the heart still languishes in unbelief. There may be assent, there may be emotional affirmation, there may be selective obedience to gospel imperatives. There may even be impressive displays of religious activity . . . But when Jesus called for taking up the cross and following him, he probably had something more radical in mind than motoring to an air-conditioned sanctuary, amen-ing the show, and returning to the real life of Sunday TV and family fun. Friends, we must not minimize the powerful, effective, life-changing nature of a true conversion experience! But when this metamorphosis happens, do we get any credit for it? No!
Michael Andrus