Too often people want to limit the message of the Gospel to a simple story about the forgiveness of sins and our future forever in heaven. The Bible certainly teaches these very things, but as it turns out, after becoming a Christian you are still here. You didn’t get sucked up into heaven. It would seem at the very least that God intends for you to be here on earth until death or the return of Christ and do something with your life. What is a Christian supposed to do while they wait?
For some, there is very little concern about this in-between period. There is the false idea that a simple profession of faith, or a sprinkling of water is the end of God’s demands for you. It is as if God said, “Well, I’ve got you down on my list. Do as you will, and I’ll pick you up later.” The absurdity of it all becomes all too apparent. Nevertheless, in our area especially, we have so many people who claim to know what the Gospel is all about and claim that they are Christians. Yet, their lives look exactly like the lives of non-Christians. Their beliefs look exactly like that of non-Christians. They may know quite a bit about the Bible, and some theology and expectations for public worship. What a danger to be so rich in theology and so impoverished in love to God. This is no small danger though such spiritually perilous ideas are common.
If you open your Bible to the book of Romans, you’ll notice that after the Apostle Paul taught the church about the free grace that is extended to all who believe in Christ in Romans 5 the book continues. There’s more to the book than that section. As one preacher put it, “Romans is not two chapters long. It is 16 chapters long. It does not skip from chapter 5 to 12. It leads us down deep into the roots of godliness, so that when we come up, we are not people with lists, but people with unshakable life and strength and holiness and wisdom and love.”
Did you read that? Holiness is more than a list. The holiness God’s Word speaks of is about a transformed heart, a transformed identity, and a life that is little by little looking more Jesus Christ because of Christ’s strength working in them. If your understanding and practice of holiness is limited to what you wear or don’t wear, to what you watch or don’t watch, your holiness may be missing the mark. Likewise, if your Christianity makes no impact in the way you live outside of the church, your holiness is certainly missing the mark as well.
God inspired Romans chapter 6 just as He inspired the entirety of the Scriptures (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21). As such, what we learn from even the briefest read is that God is concerned with how you live your life now that you belong to Him. He is not meddling with your happiness, as if the things of sin which we once loved could actually produce real joy. He is reminding us like a parent who reminds their child that eating all of their Halloween candy in one sitting won’t actually produce joy in the end. Joy for a moment; pain thereafter.
We too often forget that God as our Father really does have our best interests in mind, not merely for a moment, but for every moment of our lives. This is what makes our commitment to sin so much like the rebellion of a foolish youth. When Christians live lives without regard for God’s law, and believe that which is contrary to His Word, there is a radical disconnect. It is like a firefighter spraying gasoline on a fire instead of water. Instead of leaving us to live in such foolishness, the Holy Spirit guides us saying, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Romans 6:12-13 NKJV)
We must return to basics. A Christian is spiritually alive. An unbeliever is spiritually dead. The living ought not to act as the dead. What could be clearer than this? We do not hold picnics in the grave. We do not lay motionless on the ground without food or water presuming to be alright. We instead feel. We breathe. We eat. We drink. We dance. We celebrate. We exemplify in our lives that we are alive. All the marks of vitality surround us.
Why then do so many today who call themselves Christians still live as they were spiritually dead? This must not be.
What does a Christ-honoring spiritual life look like? We are to be servants of God. To put it another way, “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:18 NKJV) You are no longer your own. You are Christ’s slave. Though offensive to modern sensibilities, this is the language of Scripture. You will either be a slave of sin, or the slave of Christ. One leads to death. The other to eternal life, joy, and bliss. We are not our own. We have been bought with the price of Christ’s precious body and blood. We Christians have been redeemed.
Is that what your life preaches? Are you seeking to reflect and delight in the holiness of Christ? May Christ be glorified in your life. May you learn to see your sin, yourself, and the Savior rightly for only then will you properly value these elements in your world and see your need for Christ.