The Advent of Easter, Part X by Pamela Christian—Copyright © 2019
There is a miraculous transformation that takes place when a person chooses to place their faith in Jesus as their personal Savior/Redeemer. Their spirit is instantly transformed. The Greek word used in the Bible is metamorphoō which is the word from which we get metamorphosis—the word we use to describe the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. As a caterpillar begins life it is merely able to move along using it’s feet and legs to climb plants and move about the ground. But, after a time in isolation, it emerges as an entirely new creature with wings enabling it great freedom to fly, no longer limited to the realm it started from. So it is for Christians.
The Bible refers to this transformation as being born-again, which is the eradication of the sin-born spirit we had from natural conception, and supernaturally replacing it with an entirely new sinless spirit that never existed before. This is an instant transformation of the spirit, intended to influence and transform our soul and body.
Understand, God is made in three parts, Father, Son, and Spirit, and creating us in His image, God made us three parts—body, soul, and spirit. Our bodies are the physical housing for our soul and spirit. Our bodies are temporal, whereas our soul and spirit are eternal. Our soul is what makes us unique and distinct from all other humans. The Hebrew words for soul and life comes from the same root word, nephesh (Strong’s 5315). The soul is the seat of man where the will, individual personality, the intellect, desires, emotions, and conscience reside. Our spirit is the part of us that makes it possible to commune spirit to spirit. This communication can be with God and His holy messengers or with fallen, evil angels.
The Bible teaches the Third Person of the Trinity, The Holy Spirit, is also given to born-again Christians to indwell us and become our Teacher, Guide, and Counselor to bring us into all truth and help us discern between holy and demonic spirits. As we learn about the standards of the Christian faith through the Word of God (written, spoken, and the study of Jesus) we are further transformed by the renewing of our mind. As our mind is changed, our behavior, attitudes, thoughts, desires, emotions, and such will be increasingly altered more in keeping with the example of Christ’s life. As our mind is changed, our heart and all other aspects of our soul are altered.
The word sanctified actually means to be set apart as, or declared holy, consecrated, and free from sin; purified. From the moment we place our faith in Jesus as our Savior/Redeemer, we are sanctified in the spirit. However, we still have our natural born minds and bodies that need to be trained to come into alignment with the Holy Spirit. We need to deliberately put-off the old or carnal ways of thinking, and intentionally put on the mind of Christ. We need to partner with the Holy Spirit to renew our mind.
While our spirit has been miraculously made new, we are still left in this world able to be influenced by the things of this world. Our mind is the gate through which we receive information. According to the ways we think/believe, we will act. Our mind then is the control center for our soul—our will, individual personality, the intellect, desires, emotions, and conscience. Unless we intentionally work with the Holy Spirit to have our minds renewed, we can be born-again, but remain carnally or worldly minded. Sadly, this is the state of most professing Christians in our culture.
Salvation is a gift of God, made possible because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, whom we celebrate in this season. The only requirement to obtaining this gift is to believe Jesus is who He claimed to be. Following we must receive all God wants us to have which comes through the process of sanctification. Sanctification is a process by which our mind, heart, and soul are taught to come into alignment with our new spirit as instructed by the Holy Spirit.
Demographers such as Barna Research Group, estimate approximately 75% of Americans profess the Christian faith. Of this percentage, 25% are merely “Christians” in namesake only—they are not born-again and do not live their daily lives influenced by the Christian faith. Another 25% are born-again but admit they do not allow their Christian faith to determine their every choice. Of the remaining 25% it’s estimated only 7-9% are actually born-again seeking to live their daily lives making every decision based on their faith. With so few self-professed Christians actually living the faith, is it any wonder our culture is in the condition it’s in, or that the Church and the Bible are considered irrelevant today?
Where do you see yourself in all this? Depending, reading my earlier regular blog post, “What Christians Don’t Know About Christianity Promotes Evil” may be helpful for you.
Acquiring disciplines of the Christian faith are essential in the process of sanctification. For this reason, prayer and fasting will be the subject of the next post.
For March 24-25, 2019 read and meditate on the following Scriptures:
Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 10:11; Proverbs 23:7; Luke 6:45; Romans 12:2-4; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Ephesians 4:18-32
Scroll down below to access earlier posts in this series. To view the entire list of planned devotions, see the Introduction.
For author bio and schedule of posts for The Advent of Easter click here.
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