Salvation should change us
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
The wind is a peculiar phenomenon in the sense it can’t be seen, but felt.
Wind is invisible, but it makes a noticeable impact.
Extremes come into play with wind. A nice gentle breeze feels refreshing in the summer. On the other side, a hurricane or tornado with winds exceeding 100 mph is destructive.
In the Bible, Jesus compared the wind to those who are born again of the Spirit.
The transformation that occurs when an individual’s sin is forgiven through Jesus’ blood is not evident to the naked eye.
But the results of the new Christian’s life are evident. The old things – or the former lifestyle of sin – are passed away and all things are new from God.
The proof is in the pudding. In other words, those who truly experience salvation through Christ are different compared to what they used to be.
One shining example is Zacchaeus, the short in physical stature tax collector who climbed the sycamore tree to see Jesus.
Jesus observed the change in Zacchaeus’ life. After being born again, Zacchaeus more than restored the amount of money from the Jews he overtaxed.
Jesus said that salvation was come to Zacchaeus’s house and that Zacchaeus was a child of Abraham through faith.
We are saved by faith in God’s grace – not by our own works.
But once we become saved, there is plenty of evidence to back up the salvation experience. Our lifestyle changes for the better!
I remember my ball playing days before and after I got saved.
Prior to coming to know Jesus, I was with the guys frequenting the drinking hole following the games.
But after I got saved, those activities came to a screeching halt. My buddies didn’t quite comprehend the change. Some of them mocked me, and it wasn’t too long after that the Lord directed me completely out of that atmosphere.
Anyway, we are saved by God’s grace through Jesus’ blood, by there are works that accompany genuine born-again experiences.
Just as the effects of the wind can be observed, so are the works in the life of the believer in Christ.
James, the Lord’s half-brother, put it this way: “Yea, a man say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” – James 2:18-20.
In other words, James said he initially came to Jesus by faith, but when Christ came into his heart, works that were directed by God were evident in his life.
The works that are accomplished come from God residing within us, rather than from ourselves.
And God can do exceeding abundantly above what we ask—or even think—by God working in us and through us.
Abraham was justified by his works when he was willing to offer his son Isaac upon the altar, the Bible states.
“Seest how faith wrought with his works, and by his works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” – James 2:22-23.
Jesus said in John 15:2-5 that, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and, I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Later in the same chapter, Jesus said. “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (John 15:14-16).
