jonshaff
Fellow Servant
Excellent! (I told you we agree on most things )I am NOT judging anyone's salvation and I NEVER said I was, although I did say we might have a pretty good idea about people at the extremes either way. All I have been saying is that a person who is saved will give evidence of that. That is what the Bible says. Sure there are people who appear great and aren't. Sure there are people who are not keeping their eyes on Jesus very well and trying to do things themselves. But we are told to judge actions. What else does it mean when a tree is known by its fruit? What else does it mean when Paul warns Timothy of the last days? What are so many of the threads here about, whether in world events or apostasy? Actions and words are being judged by biblical standards. .
What else does it mean when Jesus says to let our good deeds cause others to praise God? What else does it mean when Paul wrote, "So I tell you this, and insist on it i the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking." ? (Eph. 4:17). We are to live differently, and that difference has got to show -- and what it has to show is Christ's character in us, increasing bit by bit through the Holy Spirit's work.
All I have been trying to say, and evidently have done so quite badly, is that when a person is born again it is going to show in his or her life. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit! There will be some kind of immediate change because the person has been given a new heart -- a heart that does not incline towards rebellion/evil, but one that inclines toward God and obedience. It may not show up a lot at first, but there will be changes, and the changes, which are wrought by the Holy Spirit will increase, because the Holy Spirit's job is to transform us into the mirror image of our Lord. He will not fail and He will not quit before the job is finished.
As far as judging a person's salvation, there is something I think we all do in this regard. When someone says they are a born-again Christian and we see them caring for others with a quiet, humble spirit and offering encouragement to others, which of us will not think to him or herself "He's really a Christian; He's really following the Lord." And we look up to people like that. And which of us, when someone says they are a born-again Christian and then is bombed out on drugs or in an active homosexual relationship, -- which of us does not wonder about that person? We don't challenge what they say about their relationship with God -- we are forbidden to do so -- but we wonder, don't we? And we hope. And we pray for that person. And one of the reasons we pray for that person is because that person is bringing the reputation of Christ into disrepute, and that is very, very painful for other Christians.
We all trip and fall. And we try our best to encourage each other and pray for each other. Why? Because we KNOW that certain behaviors are not showing Christ to the world. We KNOW that a Christian life is one following Christ, and that certain attitudes and behaviors are part of that. They don't all come at once, but if we are being transformed into the image of Christ, they will come. The Holy Spirit does not fail.
Two of the most important people in my life were older sisters in Christ. God brought them into my life at different times. They were mature in the faith and their lives showed that. Their attitudes were godly, their smiles genuine, their caring real. By their actions, their words, they helped me so tremendously, just as older women in Christ are supposed to do with younger women. Their actions proved who they were, and that gave their words worth.
Let me go further as long as I'm this far. We must grow and improve in our Christians lives. If we don't, we are saying God is a liar and the Holy Spirit doesn't know what He's doing. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. The branches grow, and flower and yield fruit. They can't help it! It's in the nature of the vine and the branches. We can't keep giving each other excuses for sin. We have GOT to encourage each other to keep the focus on Christ. In 1 Corinthians Paul tells us to build one another up with whatever gifts we have been given.
So when I tell someone that their lives will continue to show more and more of Christ in their actions and words once they have been born again, I'm not judging their salvation. I'm letting them know that God is at work in them and there is a very great reason for praise and gladness in that.