For this is the will of God, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" John 6:40.It is God’s will that we be saved. That’s wonderful! Isn’t it?
You and I were created in the image and likeness of God and together with the natural order we exists to bring honour and glory to God. The human and non-human world should testify to the love, beauty, awesomeness and graciousness of God. The marred state of human beings and the natural order renders this nearly impossible. The manifestation of the sorry state is more and more evident.
Our world is plagued with all manner of evil such as: murder of our children, child abandonment and abuse, racism, scamming of old vulnerable men and women, trafficking of young unsuspecting teenagers to satisfy the perverse desires of adults. This life is not always beautiful as we experience incurable disease, sickness, pain and death. There is rampant abuse and exploitation of the natural order such as the reckless cutting down of trees; the denuding of the beautiful mountainsides for houses; the pollution of our rivers and seas; destructive hurricanes and earthquakes all reveal a disorder and an ugliness that cheapens life and robs all of creation of what God saw was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). No wonder the Bible speaks of the bringing into existence of a new heaven and a new earth. Until that day we have to live here.
It should not be surprising that all religions have a message of salvation, offer a plan of salvation and show a way of salvation. As Rev’d Dr. William Watty observed in Occasional Booklet No 1 What Methodists Means by Saved, that “every human being who is alive or who has ever lived has, at some time or another, and in one way or another, asked the question: “What must I do to be saved?’” ( see Acts 16:30). This feeling or sense of need is an integral part of human nature and often leaves us feeling unhappy, discounted, depressed, melancholy, listless fearful and disagreeable.”
From God’s perspective the aim of all human life is to make Jesus look as valuable as he is. God wants us to be able to use our minds, hearts and bodies to express the worth and beauty of God and all God is for us in Jesus. We truly live when we are living to glorify Jesus. When we live to glorify Jesus all his wonders, compassion and purity will be seen in us and demonstrated in our daily walk.
For this to happen we have to be changed, we must be regenerated. This will involve an undoing and a redoing of who we are. It’s the cancellation of ADAM as the determining factor in our lives and replacing him with CHRIST (see Rom. 5:12-21). This involves the reclaiming, recovering and retracing the image and likeness of God that was lost and damaged through sin and it involves the transformation of our external behavior and the way we feel and think. Paul calls it transformation “by the renewal of your mind” Rom. 12:2. Jesus said this is God’s will and Paul told Timothy that “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”. (1 Timothy 2:4).
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