Salvation Occurring in Our Past

Every culture and every generation has its own clichés and rhetoric. For us, especially women, one of the oft-repeated phrases is, “I’m doing me.” This type of thinking sounds appealing, and even justifiable, when we consider how thin we are sometimes forced to spread ourselves. But it blurs the reality of how personal choices can collide with God’s perfect holiness. We become comfortable with old choices. If they were made prior to salvation, they are a way of life. We live in a culture that allows us to make “adult” choices with little regard for how God sees them. If “everybody is doing it,” there is no public censure. Since there are so many opinions and options, we have to use God’s standards alone as the measure of whether we are right or wrong in our behavior. Even if we choose not to change, we must be willing to acknowledge that those ways are not pleasing to Him. This is where conversion begins, after we have been regenerated.

When we accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, we became new creatures. This is regeneration. God did not say we would feel like a new creation, He said we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Since that change (regeneration) is made possible only because we have believed that Jesus suffered and died in our place, that means we cannot do anything to change our position. Women in our community may relate to this example:

It’s like having a minor child who causes extreme damage to neighbor’s home (and I mean extreme—you see, there is nothing small about the way our sin looks to God!) If your child comes to you and confesses his behavior and asks you to forgive him (this is how repentance must look), because you love him so much and believe in the sincerity of his contrition, you take on a second job or work overtime to pay for the damage he caused. No vacation this year. No new Coach bag, no nails and hair being done. But you are overjoyed that he is closer to you, and that your redemption of his error, even though it cost you a great deal, kept him out of the juvenile justice system. You exchanged an act of sacrifice for his life of crime, and it changed his life forever (redemption).

But what if that did not happen? What if you worked and sacrificed, yet he continued to show his behind and showed no gratitude for your sacrifice? What if he gave you no credit for your labor, and even acted as if he didn’t know you? This is what it is like when we do not walk in the faith that we claim we have in Jesus.

God is so much more gracious than we are! I know so many mothers who “go the distance,” you might say, with their children. Few mothers ever throw in the towel. Well if a human being with her own flaws can hang in with a wayward child, how much more do you think Jesus will hang in there with us? Because we are justified when we put our faith in Him, Jesus treats us as though we are righteous even though we continue to sin. Don’t allow your newly saved sisters to get this twisted, though! We cannot dupe

Jesus just because we utter a few words. He knows our heart. Justification is purely Jesus’ business. So they should be encouraged: He loves them enough to hold on to them, even while they struggle with sin. Their past salvation is guaranteed—guaranteed! And it is up to us, those called to comfort with the same comfort (victory!) we have received, to make them certain of what that means.

So go back to that cliché I mentioned at the beginning of this article: “I’m doin’ me.” Or choose one of your own to expose, if you like. Our clichés may be relevant to a certain point in time, but God’s word stands forever. Our worldly perspectives are dismantled by this truth: When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit is deposited in us to give us everything we will need for our walk on this earth (2 Peter 1:3). This particular rhetoric resonates with women because we often have to play so many roles and assume so much responsibility for others. We are heads of households, which was not God’s intent. We are usually employed outside of our homes. As we get older, we become caretakers of our parents on one end and grandchildren on the other. If married, we certainly are responsible to husbands. Stretched so thin, our own needs and desires are often neglected, and we reach a breaking point. But let’s not be lulled into disregarding the sacrifice Jesus made for us. He suffered and died on the cross for my sins and yours and theirs.

Is doing you a better choice than doing Jesus?