Spiritual Growth is from Heart to Mind to Heart
How does the bible describe the internal workings of biblical salvation? This thought occurred to me the other day, so I went to the source to find out exactly what happens.
Consider Lydia, a woman from Thyatira, whose encounter with the message of Paul is recorded in Acts 16:14: "One of those listening was a certain woman, whose name was Lydia, the seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." I heard an expression a while back that fits the context perfectly. "We are all blind until the Lord opens our eyes". This is so true! We wouldn’t even know the salvation that the Lord offers until His grace reaches us and we choose to receive it. Lydia’s heart, closed to the truth for all those years, was divinely opened by hearing the grace gospel, and it is in that very moment of faith that salvation took root within her. This example in Acts confirms a core principle: Christianity originates within the heart.
From that very moment a believer responds in faith and believes the grace gospel, they are justified and are saved from the wrath of God and from an eternal doom. From that moment on, nothing, absolutely nothing, can change that instantaneous and permanent standing with God. Paul confirms this perfectly in Romans 5:1-2 when he writes, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Notice how we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God! The hope expressed here is not a fear of an uncertain outcome, but an optimistic expectation and confident anticipation of its assured realization. Justification is permanent. God’s decree states that those how have faith in His Son are counted as righteous, an eternal promise He made to Abraham 4000 years ago, Romans 4:3: a promise that stands eternal and that guarantees peace with God, Romans 4:9-11.
So, is that it? Is this the full journey of salvation? Do we stop here and just wait for a transition into eternity? This is what most believers appear to do since they have their ticket to heaven. They just continue to live as they always have, maybe trying to change here and there to conform to an expected pattern of living as dictated by the preachings of popular churches. However, this step of justification is only the first baby step. It is the most important step which defines one’s eternal state: being alive in God or dead in sin, but the full experience of salvation does not rest solely on that initial moment of spiritual transformation. Once the heart is saved, the mind must be renewed by the truth of Scripture. As Paul writes in Romans 12:2, "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."
Huh!? What? —Why? I thought I was saved! Is this a condition to secure salvation? I though the promise of justification was enough! What is this renewing of the mind? —Woah there my friend! Slow down. Nothing can change your eternal peace and justification with God. Your soul is utterly saved by one’s faith in the grace gospel. That is settled. What Paul is now about to present pertains to one’s spiritual growth and an inheritance in the ages to come. You see, you have now been transferred into a new kingdom, and you have a new identity. When you were born into this world, you received an identity as a human, and you had something to live for. You didn’t just remain a baby. You started to grow, you started to explore the world, you started to develop tendencies and talents, eventually setting goals and ambitions. Well, one’s spiritual life is no different. You cannot just remain a spiritual babe. Growth is necessary. There is a race to run, there is a prize to win, and that requires your attention: a good diet, exercise, training, increasing in strength, and a lot of learning to renew a mind to the principles of a new spiritual life. A human baby might be an heir of an empire, but how can they enjoy its full benefits if they don’t grow up. They will remain subject to tutors and governors since they are too immature and childish to qualify in the full benefits and positions available. This is the same in one’s new spiritual life. One can remain a spiritual babe and remain saved, but without spiritual growth one will lose out on much of one’s inheritance in the Father’s kingdom.
Our curriculum, to grow and mature as a son in the kingdom of God is laid out for us in Romans to Philemon. Justification is settled in the first five chapters of Romans, the very first book in the curriculum. The rest of the curriculum, from Romans 6 to the end of Philemon, is to grow us up from babes to sons, from the carnal life to the spiritual life, from ignorance of our inheritance towards knowledge and a full understanding of our Fathers kingdom, his will, his ways and his judgements. The glory that awaits us in that eternal kingdom is measured by how much we know of our Father’s kingdom, and how mature we have become as sons to reign within it. How much of Christ in you is the measure of the glory to be received at the presentation before the Father.
So, having discussed the first step of biblical salvation, a heart that is justified, the next part of this study of spiritual growth and salvation is the maturing of the mind. I’ll see you in part 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment