Since our “life is now hidden with Christ” (Col 3:3), we have been given a unique orientation, which is looking up and leaning forward. Scripture is replete with examples of this new perspective. Paul, for instance, writes “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way” (Philippians 3:13-15). Hebrews admonishes us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Heb 12:1-2). As we look up to Jesus we lean forward in holy living. John tells us that “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself [present tense] as he is pure” (1 Jn 3:2-3). Our certain future necessarily impacts our present living.
In fact, Peter insists that looking up and leaning forward has a significant impact on our ethical living, because
“The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.” (2 Pt 3:10-14).
I honestly believe that if our daily lives were governed more by the anxious expectation of our Lord’s appearance and its implications for our lives, there would be far less psychosis and far more hope-filled believers who anxiously live for Christ. Indeed, it is this forward focus that propels our new life in Christ. It provides a fresh and exciting orientation for living our lives as people of God whose identity is found solely in Christ Jesus.
You see, when Christ enters our lives we are set on a new course. Quite simply, being born again means that something happens to us at the deepest level of our existence. Being born again is the activity whereby God radically transforms our moral, mental, emotional, and volitional fiber through the unique power of the Holy Spirit. Our value systems are wholly renovated, not just modified as old impulses and habits are gradually yet certainly replaced with new ones (Gal 5:19-24; Col 2:11-12). In our second birth a spiritual death takes place of the old self or nature (Gal 2:20), which was dominated by sinful desires and activities (Rom 6:1-11), and we are given a new life that is inclined to love and serve the living God who by grace alone through faith alone saved us to a living hope that is never to be corrupted (1 Pt 1:4). Being born again begins this new journey, also called “sanctification,” which broadly defined is the gradual but certain transformation of our lives in growing conformity to Christ’s life through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Excerpted from my “Our Strength, His Power: Who We Are and Why It Matters”