“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” – Titus 3:3-7.

IS IT NOT amazing to find that we lose interest in the things of the world? Do we not wonder as to how people can love its ways after we have seen its shallowness, pretence, deception and lies?

What fails to make sense is how so many professing Christians feel so at home in this world. How can so many love it when their profession of faith is supposed to be the declaration of being delivered out from it into God’s kingdom of light? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). There must be a definite transition if we declare to be followers of Christ; we cannot remain neutral, there has to be such a contrast and because of the lack of its influence in society we have the audacity to remedy that through our own methods that is anything other than a Biblical approach. How does anyone of us expect to change the world (or the people thereof) if we are no different from it? No matter how so many justify ‘fitting’ into this world (an excuse of being ‘relevant’ to culture in order to ‘reach’ it), there is to be that dividing line, the contrast between darkness and light. Despite how much the world may profess and boast to be improving, the Bible is unpolitically correct, straight and honest in that the world is dark and will always remain so until Christ returns and renews the whole of creation.

For those whose profession of faith in Christ is marked by an intense devotion to Him and an obvious distaste for the ways, not just for the things of this world – humility and amazement will fill our hearts that God should ever have commenced His good work in our lives. Furthermore, as we progress in the Christian walk we will find things in our hearts that we never dreamed of being there and we will feel disdain for ourselves, yet remain hopeful because of the steadfast love of God; He is committed to and will fulfil perfecting His workmanship of salvation in our lives. Our need for Christ will accelerate, no matter how much good fruit we may bear; the awareness of standing only by grace will be heavily engraved on the tablet of our hearts by the penmanship of the Holy Spirit. Every strand of trusting ourselves will be shaken out of us until we derive comfort by looking alone to Christ. Indeed our love will grow for Him the more He pours out His grace on our lives.

It is the Lord’s doing, it is His work and such a genuine work will never allow us to forget what we once were. There is no condemnation, but that doesn’t exclude recollection; it keeps us humble, reminding us that we are but dust; we were vessels of wrath but now by the mercy of God, we are His possession, His inheritance – indeed heirs of Him and lavishly loved by Him. What a contrast to how we once lived and what we once rightly and justly deserved. We were just like the world: foolish, enslaved to corruption, dead in sin and opposed to God, but now we have been made alive to Him to pursue Him. He – not us – has written His laws on our very hearts that reveals the striking difference to what we ourselves were once.