The Lodestar

The Christian faith is not just a set of beliefs; it involves experiencing the Lord on a daily basis. Growing in faith means experiencing more and more of our Saviour and Lord and becoming increasingly like him.

The Christian life begins when we recognise the need for a Saviour and continues as we identify with him in his death and resurrection through Christian baptism. We are seated with him through the spiritual resurrection, though we are still physically on earth. Paul sums up this experience: “Even when we were dead in our trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus….” (Ephesians 2:5—7).

People who accept God's salvation through Jesus Christ should also understand that they are destined for eternal life in another world. They must have a different orientation of mind than the unsaved.

People who have experienced God’s salvation and belong to the world where Christ is should reorient their minds from things of this world to things of that world. Just as a person who plans to immigrate to another country gets rid of things that are of no use in the new country, learns the language, culture, and manners of the host country, and lives each day waiting for the day of entry in the new country, so must we too; feet on this earth, eyes on the world above with eager anticipation.

Jesus had promised that one day, he would take us to be with him: “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).

This re-orientation of thinking, hopes, and aspirations determines the quality of Christian life we live. Paul reminded the Philippians, who were Roman citizens, that “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:20). This realisation of where we belong gives momentum to the Christian life. Instead of being stagnant, in Paul’s words, we must forget “what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [and] press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13—14).

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