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There must be a logical connect between belief and behaviour. We believe in Jesus for our eternal salvation. We must also believe that God’s grace will change us to live by His divine purpose. For many new believers, one of the major hurdles is this: “Is it truly possible to be changed?” “Is it possible to be a person having high ethics and morals as taught in the Bible?” Herein is an error of incomplete trust. This concept of change must depend on the Agent of Change – God! Christianity is a “religion of divine grace, not human merit.” The Christian must trust in God’s ability and power to change him. Once convinced by this truth, the rest is history – the history of the Bible narrates the trust of the Christian founding fathers. God worked to build faith in the past and He works the same in the present.
One Bible commentator described “crucified with Christ” to having “our vices exchanged for virtue”. The changed life validates our public confession. The essence of the changed life is not just a professed faith – “incarnation is critical to proclamation – without the first, the second seems hollow and deceitful.” This is a powerful testimony, not preached over the pulpit or broadcast in an organized rally. The changed life is a work of grace from inside out, fleshed out in the public actions of the body, demonstrating virtues that characterized a holiness that is from God. It is truly God’s triumph and victory over societal corruption and influence – “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose” (Phil. 2:13). Our moral capacity comes not from the knowledge of the codes of righteous ethics and conduct, and abiding in them. Our holiness must be God driven – “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:15, 16).
John Wesley called it “social holiness” for holiness is not exclusively defined by acts of private devotion but pertains to public demonstration of communal love and support, acts of kindness and compassion. The Christian must be liberated from emotional tendency to grudges, rivalry and enmity and practice the moral maturity and perfection that is the fruit of faith in Jesus. “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).
