Do you Really Want it?

by Maurice Pujol
Published September 2, 2006

Do you really want it?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:17-18)

Do you ever wonder why some people – and that includes most of us – never seem to make the progress they should in their Christian walks?

For many people, their faith life is a roller coaster, a series of ups and downs, highs and lows, sinning and repenting in a seemingly endless cycle. After a while, frustration may set in, and some give up altogether. A few even blame God for their troubles and failures.

One theological explanation for the phenomenon known as “backsliding” is that persons who suddenly quit going to church and embrace openly sinful lifestyles were never really “saved” in the first place. Strict Calvinists would say these folks were never really part of the elect, that they were just “playing church” for a season.

This explanation, however theologically coherent it may be, doesn’t really hold water at the practical level. There are people who make solid commitments to Jesus Christ, live impeccable Christian lives for decades, and then suddenly walk away from it all. I am convinced that many of these people were sincere in their faith and serious about their commitments to Christ. Their failures cannot be explained away by a simple theological theory.

Well then, how do we explain such sudden changes in behavior, especially after a lifetime of Christian commitment? The answer goes way beyond the traditional debate between predestination and free will. The answer lies deeper than any of man’s philosophies or theological theories.

Let’s talk about that initial commitment. When someone is drawn to Jesus, either during a church service, after reading a Bible passage or by someone who leads others to Christ, this new “baby” Christian is usually motivated by the desire to escape a very unpleasant life. The new convert leaves bad things behind, shedding off an old lifestyle that left him or her very miserable most of the time.

There’s something about Jesus and the Bible that attracts new believers. It has that special ring of truth, of course, because it is truth. But the new believer isn’t aware of all the details. The new believer hears about joy unspeakable and the peace that passes all understanding. Visions of a happy life in the here and now, followed by eternal bliss in the hereafter, are more inducements for someone whose life has basically crashed and burned up to that point.

In other words, virtually everyone wants what the Bible promises. Because Jesus is who He says He is, His message reaches people deep in their beings, in that “empty spot” that only God can fill. Given the right circumstances, it’s difficult not to respond to the call of God’s grace.

However, when Jesus beckons, when the truth strikes a chord in our hearts, we are asked to do much more than just be happy. We are told that we must become new creatures in Christ.

That sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? It holds a certain attraction, especially for someone wanting to leave an unpleasant life behind.

Here’s the catch, though: Before someone can become a new creature, the old creature must die. Jesus said it, plainly and simply, to Nicodemus: Unless you are willing to be born again (literally, born from above), you will not inherit eternal life.

What happens in many cases of conversion, I suspect, is that new Christians want to hold on to some of that “old creature” they once were. It may be that getting drunk or spreading gossip was a favorite pastime, so they try to embrace Christianity without paying the price of giving up those old bad ways.

Everyone wants the chocolate cake at the marriage supper of the Lamb, but many want to pass on the broccoli. That’s not the way it works. The old creature, and all that he or she was, has to be eliminated. The new creature, a Spirit-filled believer, is a creation of God’s grace and mercy. The new creature must take the old creature’s place, fully and completely.

A person is definitely saved on the day he or she repents of sin and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. The new convert, however, is certainly not the person he or she needs to be – at least not yet.

This is where free will enters the picture. Yes, it is God’s grace that beckons us and God’s grace that gives us the ability to respond. But that old creature is still alive in us on the day of our salvation, and it is up to us to leave it behind – all of it, not just the parts we don’t want.

This death to the old creature is a process, not an instantaneous event. John Wesley called it “progressive sanctification,” a daily decision, sometimes a struggle, to “kill off” more of that old creature and to become more fully the creature God intends us to be before we enter His presence at the end of our days on earth.

Those who avoid this process, those who bypass the difficult task of allowing God to continue to clean them up, usually end up falling down along the way. Those who try to straddle the fence, to serve God and themselves, usually end up just hurting themselves.

We have a choice, and only a fool would choose to give up the great gift of eternal life just to serve the whims of that old creature. But many have, and many still do.

We are free moral agents and can say “no” to God. We’re also human beings with a great capacity for justifying ourselves, and we love to have our cake and eat it, too. We would like to think we can say “yes” to God and hold on to those old selves. It’s a delicate balancing act that many keep going for most of their lives.

But it’s also a very dangerous way to live.

Probably the best question to ask a new convert is this, then: “Do you really want it?”

“Well, then, here’s what you’re asking for. . .”

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