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Not Just Believing But Becoming

       You hear so many claim they believe in God, the one true God. Yet the lives they live negate the principles of the ‘one true God’ they claim to believe in.  The funny aspect of this is that these ones are very vocal about the darkness that has engulfed the whole earth! What exactly then is the ‘believe’ they claim to have and what does it entail if they don’t live the lives that their ‘believe’ entails? It may be their ‘believe’ makes them humane and gives them a sense of belonging. There are so many that claim to believe in God; they believe He created them, they believe He exists; they equally believe that He would one day judge the earth. These, believe that since they believe in God, they are automatically His children and are followers of Jesus Christ. After all, they reason, only God sees the heart, even if their physical acts negate His principles, their hearts still love Him! What a terrible delusion! Let’s take a look at this ‘believe’ again! 
       The Bible tells us in John 1:12: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name”. This verse is as simple as it is deep. There are three key words in it: received, become and believe. If we may paraphrase this verse, it would read, ‘for as many as believe in him and received Him (into their hearts) He gave the power to become children of God’. Jesus Christ did not come to this earth to die and rise up again so that people will only believe Him and go back to living their old lives. He came so that he can reconcile the people back to God: Take man back to his original state of being like God before the fall in the garden – in the garden, man was a son of God; you cannot claim to be a son of someone if you don't bear any DNA resemblance to him. God is not out to be an adopted father as we have on earth, He truly wants to be a Father to children He birthed: “Who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13). 
       If you claim to not only believe in Him but equally have received him into your heart, brethren, the evidence of this is the fruit of your life: An ongoing transformation to become like Him not a reveling in sin and the things that negate the nature of God: “The activities of the lower nature are obvious. Here is a list: sexual immorality, impurity of mind, sensuality, worship of false gods, witchcraft, hatred, quarreling, jealousy, bad temper, rivalry, factions, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like that. I solemnly assure you, as I did before, that those who indulge in such things will never inherit God’s kingdom” (Galatians 5:19-21, J. B. Phillips). The Bible goes on to tell us that we know who a person is by the fruits they bear. Friend, if you claim to believe in Jesus Christ and have received Him into your heart, what are the fruits of His nature in you? 
       The fact that you claim to have received Him, the Bible says you have been given the power to ‘become’ like Him. Do you not know that as you walk in and with Him, you bear fruits and are becoming like Him? Just believing in Him without striving to become like Him, is not great because it does not make you His son. To be His son, you must ‘become’! It is not automatic, it’s a working out, a cutting away! Don’t you know that the devil and his demons equally believe there is one God, they equally know He has a Son and the name of His Son; they just can’t say it, because at the mention of the name of the Son of God, every knee in Heaven, on earth and under the earth must bow! What differentiates us from the devil and his demons is that we don’t only believe and receive Jesus Christ into our hearts, but on a daily basis we are determined by the power given to us to grow in Him in order to be like Him. The devil does not want to become like Christ, in fact he cannot. But grace (the power) has been given to us to be like Him: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him” (Colossians 3:10). 
       God’s desire for the world is to have people be like Him (carrying His nature), that is how His glory will fill the earth. The reason there is gross darkness on the earth is because so many carry the nature of the devil, and this nature is darkness. The nature of God is light and darkness cannot understand it neither can it overcome it. Friend, if truly you believe and have received Jesus Christ into your heart then make every effort to become like Him on a daily basis. This is not difficult (contrary to the whispering of the devil), because the power to do so has been given to you and I when we believed and received Him into our hearts. No wonder the Bible admonishes us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling; besides it is God who is at work in us enabling us to do His will for His good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13). God bless you as you take this decision!

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