It is safe to say that for the last few days I have been 'haunted' by a statement that I heard posed by Dr. Ravi Zacharias during one his podcasts that I had recently downloaded. His statement went something like this. He said that there is one apologetic question that he is asked from time to time and that he asks himself in return that he has not been able to reconcile and/or provide much of an answer to in his years of defending the Christian faith. The question pertained to the possibility of someone claiming to have had a supernatural transformation resulting from an encounter with God and yet show so little evidence of the transformation in their lives...
His following point was well made before he made it. If our lives do not show the evidence of this transformation or change, then what is it that we claim to have??? Paul Washer separately comments that this claim to redemption by many would be comparable to someone's being hit by a 130-ton log truck while walking across a street and not showing any ill-effects to the impact of the log truck on their bodies. Washer comments that this is a near impossibility.
The overarching schematic to this concern is that the implications are staggering. Although the way we live our lives may certainly affect the way the gospel radiates from our lives, we should not be surprised that we may know many that would fall into the area that Zacharias and Washer illustrate. Maybe even we fall into this...
Jesus said very plainly in Matthew 7, that the road that leads to life is narrow and only a FEW would find it. I think there is a strong possibility that we should not expect to see a bunch of goats walking on this narrow road. The narrow road is reserved for the sheep that can hear his voice and follow his voice.
The transformation that is necessary to make a goat into sheep is supernatural and can only be done by the Holy Spirit Himself...Maybe it is time to start separating the sheep from the goats.
As I write this, I have paused a song that was playing. It is on Hillsong's new album "This is our God"...I paused it in the chorus which says, "The same power that conquered the grave lives in me. Lives in me." Wow! That power is transforming. If I have been transformed by the power of God, that power lives in me. The power should produce some effects.
So what about those of us who have church roots in our blood...Do I display this power in my life? After all, I cannot offer (nor do I wish I could offer) a testimony similar to Paul's Damascus Road or Mary Magdalene. However, these questions/doubts about our conversions do come and thankfully are readily answerable by the Holy Spirit to help those like me KNOW that we have eternal life...
Maybe it does all boil down to simply asking, where do my passions lie? What am I pursuing? Do I look forward to heaven or am I striving to Live my best life now? Am I being conformed into the image of Christ? Or is the answer to all of these questions, No.! God save me if the answer is no.
Resolved to live, believe and radiate "The same power that conquered the grave" that lives in me!!!!
Soli Deo Gloria
JW
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