LETTING GO

"There is no natural or spiritual way to live in both worlds."

Why is it when the jailed inmate comes to the knowledge of the Gospel and repents, that he falls so quickly upon release? So many will say, I'm not surprised, he went right back to the same bunch he was running around with when he got in trouble! Yet, we're guilty of the same thing. Most of us cohabit exclusively with the same bunch we did before conversion! We can see their need for a Savior, but are we, by biblical standards, really any closer to looking like Jesus than they are?

This sliding scale, by which we tend to judge, may be the most subtle and deceptive of tools the enemy uses to destroy those who would find eternal life. We have all heard sermons on authentic discipleship, but most church folk have sung hymns about authentic discipleship since childhood: I Surrender All, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus, etc.

We must consider, when someone is born, they're not partially born, emerging part of the way out of the womb, then working their way out over time. No, they leave the comfortable, quiet, and self-sufficient environment of the womb, and break into the harsh reality of the noise, opposition, and discomfort of a new existence! Then New Life begins!

So it is with all who will follow Christ. The old must end! There is no natural or spiritual way to live in both worlds. God was aware of the impossibility of our accomplishing such a task as the result of our own will, but upon the submission of that will to Him, He promises to fill us with His Holy Spirit, making the impossible, possible! When I am born again, I no longer fit where I once lived. I have been born of God, now I’m here exclusively to point others to Him. I am a Christian!

*******

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
~John 3:3 KJV

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
~Acts 2:38 KJV

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
~1 John 4:4 KJV

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
~1 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
~1 John 3:2 KJV

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
~1 Corinthians 15:50 KJV