10 He {Jesus} was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:10-13, NKJV)I was lying in bed last night, and this verse was ringing in my ears. "But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God..." (Yes, I memorized it in KJV, so that's the wording in my head.) Jesus gives those who receive Him the power to become children of God. It doesn't automatically make us children of God. He gives us the power to make the choice. I've never thought of it that way before: the power to become.
8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:1-11, NKJV)
I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about Romans 8, as I'm memorizing that chapter. One of the things that has hit me, time and time again, is that "there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." The implication there is that walking in the Spirit, and NOT walking in the flesh, is a major determining factor in the no condemnation piece.
One of the major splits among Christians is between the "once saved, always saved" camp and the "you can lose your salvation" camp. It all boils down to semantics. One camp says that you can't lose your salvation but that you may have never been saved to begin with if you go away from God. The other says that you may make a genuine profession of faith, then turn from it and go away from God, abandoning your salvation and all that goes with it. Semantics. A foolish, divisive argument. The focus shouldn't be on the loss of salvation, but on the pursuit of righteousness and holiness. It's pretty safe to say, in either camp, that a person who makes a profession of faith, or "gets saved" and then pursues a life of holiness, righteousness, and nearness to God-- that person is saved.
Instead of trying to draw the line at how far you can get from God and still be "saved," the focus should be on how close we can get to God and His heart and will for us.What I keep seeing in Scripture, because God keeps drawing these verses to my attention, is that God wants us to choose Him, not just once, but in every moment. He wants us to draw close to Him, to be more like Him, to bask in the glory of His holiness, to be perfect as HE is perfect, to live in the power of His Spirit instead of the weakness of sin and death, to love Him and serve Him and draw close to Him so that we can understand Him better. We're made in His image, and we do a pretty poor job of reflecting that image when we don't know or understand Him or it. We can't bring Him the glory and the honor that is due Him without knowing Him.
Don't be mistaken. He will be honored and glorified. We are not so powerful as to deny Him that. We simply are not the "good and faithful servants" that get rewarded when we don't bother to do as we should.
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
When we were sinners, not in relationship with the God of the universe, we gave ourselves fully to sin. We lived it up in every way, not caring about a standard that didn't apply to us. As "Christians," we should live just as fully in righteousness and holiness as we did in sin and death. What it comes down to are shades of luke-warm-ness. How shallow, and luke-warm are you willing to be in your righteousness? Do you really want to fight over how sad and pathetic you can be and just barely squeak into eternity? Really? WHY??20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sinis death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To those who receive Jesus, He has given the power to become children of God. He has given us the authority to choose to be adopted and carry His righteous name. He has given us the rights that come with sonship, if only we will take them. What does that entail? Well, throughout the Bible, we see people who choose to draw close to God. We see Abraham, whose faith was imputed to him as righteousness. We see powerful people and weaklings alike stepping close to the heart of God, and righteousness, holiness is the beacon that shines out about these stories. That seems to be clearly the powerful-becoming.
Romans 8:8 says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Have you thought about that? Are you able to please God? What does it take to please Him? Do you even want to?
Jesus gives us the power to become children of God. The Holy Spirit comes and lives inside us to empower us to become holy, righteous, and blameless in the sight of God through the blood of Jesus. The Bible makes it clear that our HOLY, righteous God will not tolerate sin, and sin cannot be in His presence, so our empowered righteousness, accomplished through God's power alone, would be the only way we can please Him. Anyone who claims His name, should be seeking constantly to please God.
We've been given the power to become. So, what are you becoming?
Much love,
LL~
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