Many people are reluctant to believe in Jesus because they don’t understand what it’ll really be like for them as a Christian. First, notice I said reluctant to believe. I say it that way because at some point faith is a choice. So, many don’t believe because they don’t want to. And all who believe have chosen to believe. But that isn’t exactly what this particular blog is about.
I want to address seven Christian-life surprises that, if non-believers knew about, they would decide to believe. These are surprising occurrences for Christians, usually early in their faith walk:
- Your guilt immediately morphs into peace and freedom. This was the first surprise for me, and a very pleasant one (the only kind God has for His believing children). I believe of all the cancers to the human heart – and there are many – guilt is the most damaging. God knows its power against us and designated His Son as its remedy. As I sat sobbing from the pain of the realization of having sinned lifelong against God and people, He poured into my mind a flood of forgiveness that soothed my pain like oil that healed the guilt-wounds of my heart and left me with the elation of peace, knowing I was free from the consequences I deserved.
- What God asks of you He empowers you to perform. People often reject Christ because they think the only earthly things He’ll give them are lifestyle requirements. What He actually gives us is His own Spirit. Hard as it may be to believe, He really does give us the Holy Spirit who remains in us (right in the space of our most inner thinking, feeling and deciding – for life!). The remarkable thing is the way the Spirit offers His power to us from within. He neither takes control nor remains uninvolved. The power of His whispers to our heart are sufficient to persuade us to take right steps and walk in success. There are days of wrestling within ourselves, but His power, although He ever bestows to us the freedom of choice, takes us to victory by battle’s end. The point is that, once believers, we are not the same as before; we have far more working for us than our own efforts.
- God’s forgiveness is for all sins – past, present and future. If I thought God would forgive me of past sins, but condemn me for any future ones, I’d be reluctant, too. If anyone challenges you on this point, ask them if God, who calls us to forgive others in open ended, blank check fashion, would not, Himself do what He’s called us to do. Some think we must ask forgiveness for every sin, but I don’t believe our salvation depends upon our catching and confessing every sin we commit. My faith assures me that God forgives me for all my sin, whether known or unknown by me; that the faith to which I invite others.
- You are, literally, being made new. I had trouble accepting that for years. Then I realized that it isn’t based on feeling (I often continued to feel terribly tarnished and non-new), nor is the promise based on our performance. The premise for this truth is Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to Heaven where His body is glorified (new). Faith in Him who is new has made us new. Admittedly, this still takes faith to understand, but that doesn’t make it any less real.
- The same power that loved and forgave you operates naturally in and through you towards others. It’s amazing when you’re wronged as a Christian to find the power to love and forgive. It looks undeniably like the stuff God used for us, and the sense of satisfaction that comes from wielding such power is like nothing we knew before.
- The Holy Spirit doesn’t force you to do anything. Understanding this may put you among a minority of Christians because, clearly, not all Christians get it. But to not get this requires a discounting of Paul’s All things are permissible but not all things are beneficial (1 Corinthians 10:23). An understanding of grace (which may be, itself, the greatest of all Christian surprises) frees us from the idea that we now must or we won’t be saved, and clothes us instead with Jesus did and we believe it, so we are surely saved. To this day, after forty years as a Christian, it still surprises me that He is such a gentleman, always whispering rather than yelling, suggesting instead of ordering, yielding control when He could wrest it. What a surprise that the immortal God would conduct Himself in this way as He takes residence in our mortal hearts.
- You’ll be in a new family that identifies with you like no other can. Now, I’m not saying the church is perfect in its behavior. It’s been commonly experienced and pretty well documented that it’s far from perfect in its treatment of people both inside and outside itself. But that doesn’t invalidate the church’s possession of the most powerful fellowship on earth. The earthly body of believers in Jesus Christ enjoys the deepest sense of kinship on this planet. Countless times I’ve met for the first time a person who is a believer, looked into their eyes, and sensed right down to my heart a lovely, piercing kinship connection that cannot be duplicated by any other commonality than that of faith in the one who saves, fills and defends us. Fellowship can be defined as fellows in a ship. They have a common mission, common challenges and a common destiny. Profound fellowship is what Christians have in the deepest sense. And you can’t understand it until you experience it. It’s yet another surprise in a life of pleasant surprises for believers in Jesus.
I’m not always sure who my readers are. Do I even have any readers who aren’t yet Christians? I’m not sure. If you don’t yet believe, I hope this will help you cross the threshold of faith in Christ.
If you are a believer, perhaps this can help you as you invite others to believe in Jesus.
