Let’s suppose as a hypothetical situation, I can up to you in church, and my necktie was a bit crooked. Then you ask me: “what happened to your tie, it looks a bit crooked?” And I give the following response:

“Well, there’s an interesting story behind this, because on my way to church, my car stalled across some railroad tracks, and I couldn’t get out in time, and a train came. It pulverized my car while I was in it, and the whole thing went up in a massive ball of flames. And so, that would explain why my tie is a bit off: I’ve been through a lot.”

If you were at all reasonable, you’d think I was either lying, or crazy. And why?

Because if I had truly been hit dead-on with a train, and had an encounter of the magnitude that I described, I’d be dead for sure. Or if I did survive, I would bear absolutely no resemblance to the person I had been before the train wreck.

And yet, is not salvation the same way? Is not God greater than even a giant freight train? Yet we claim to be born again, and we have only the slightest change to our lives, as if it were only a tiny adjustment to our necktie.

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Is this all the change that Christ has done in us?

We have so little true life in us because we have so little true death.

“For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” -Romans 6:7-12

We experience so little resurrection power because we have not tasted of that self-denying death on the cross which Christ commands all His disciples to endure:

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” -Matthew 16:24-25

True salvation: a life-changing event

The Bible tells us that those who are truly born again are made a new creature. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). There are so many verses—monumental verses—that it is almost impossible to take them to heart and not expect God to do a mighty work in your life if you come to Him in faith and abandonment to self.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” -Romans 12:1-2

Notice a key word in the second verse: transformed. Scripture does not say “changed” or “altered slightly,” but it says that we will literally be transformed by God through the working of His Holy Spirit.

The underlying Greek word is basically what we would call a metamorphosis. That is, much as an ugly caterpillar is completely transformed into a beautiful winged butterfly, so too are we promised a startling inward transformation—one which will be evident in our outward speech and actions.

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” -Colossians 3:1-3

• Salvation: Past, Present, and Future
• Man’s Heart is Desperately Wicked
• Sacrifice: Love’s Truest Demonstration
• Jewels in His Crown
• Dying Twice

Filed under:
Christian Devotions/Bible Study by Dean