A lifelong journey

Fifth, and finally, we begin to grow into the new life he has promised us. The Bible refers to this as “maturing in Christ.” The new birth is an act.  Following Christ is a lifelong process.  If we earnestly follow him, we will never be the same.

The believer in Christ becomes wonderfully different.  He learns and grows as a newborn child. He realizes that God himself, who previously seemed beyond his grasp, is really his loving father who desires a close, personal relationship with him. But he is also a righteous God, a God to be revered, and who has established standards by which we are to live.

Through this new relationship, the transformed life emerges. Harmful habits change.  Attitudes, thinking and language move to a whole new level.  Motives are purified.  Selfishness gives way to service.  Relationships with others are restored.  Bitterness, envy, jealousy and hatred diminish as love increases.  Not overnight, but steadily, progressively.  Profound changes are underway.

The new believer desires to get together with others who also have a faith in Christ. Fresh bonds of trust, love and mutual respect are forged. The Bible, God’s own inspired word to us, becomes a close friend, relevant and understandable – a totally reliable point of reference.  We realize God has also given us his Holy Spirit, the indwelling presence of Jesus himself, to be with us the rest of our lives.

But there are also fresh challenges.  Old habits and old associations don’t change easily.  Conflicts arise, within and from the outside.  We realize we are contending with spiritual forces that oppose us.  We doubt.  We may encounter discouragement.

Yet it’s different.  We’re not alone.  The Lord himself is committed to help us on our journey – to guide, instruct, correct, discipline, and encourage us. It’s different because a new foundation has been set in place – and that foundation is faith in Christ. Steadily, progressively, we grow.  Amidst challenges (which we never outgrow), we can be certain about our new bond of friendship with Christ. How wonderful and reassuring are his words to those who follow him: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

In time, the transformed life impacts everything we are and do.  Recall the relationship Adam experienced with God before the fall.  Would not the Lord want to see that kind of fellowship restored, even in our work?  As one business owner commented in an interview with the Harvard Business Review, “I would love to get the workplace as close to the Garden as possible, knowing we can’t.  But I shouldn’t stop trying.” (HBR, Jan-Feb 1999.)

Alan’s story

When I think about the transformed life, I think of Alan, a colleague in our industry. While he was doing well in his professional life, he was really struggling personally.  Setbacks, both at home and at work, had left him discouraged, searching for something more. One of his customers told Alan about the radical change that occurred when he yielded his life to Jesus. Alan listened respectfully, but didn’t see how this applied to him.

One morning during a trade show, Alan and I arranged to meet over breakfast. As Alan poured out his difficulties, I could see that he longed for personal peace. I shared my own story, including my decision to follow Jesus. Right at the breakfast table, Alan took that same bold step I had taken years earlier.  When he did, the change in his countenance was immediate and profound.

Alan and I have stayed in touch, enabling me to see his steady progress. Recently, we celebrated the third anniversary of his coming to Christ – again over breakfast at our annual industry trade show. I saw a man whose life is peaceful, rewarding and purposeful. Though he continues to work through challenges, he knows he’s been transformed, experiencing a joy and freedom he never knew before.

Conclusion

It is no accident that you have received and are reading this essay.  Maybe you’ve been searching for truth.  Or maybe you’ve begun your faith journey but need to solidify basic understandings.  Perhaps you’ve been a long way from home, as I was years ago – uncertain about life’s purpose, its end, about eternity. Wherever you are, the adventure of growing and living in Christ never ends, but that process must be firmly rooted. The essential foundation is the transforming step of coming to Christ that I’ve described here.

The next step is yours. I urge you to rise to the challenge.  If these thoughts and words are a help, please reflect on them, and by God’s grace, act on them.  With all my heart I believe they are your reliable roadmap to the way home.

Would you like to experience the adventure of growing and living in Christ?  Pray the following prayer today, and accept John’s challenge today.

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally.  Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.  I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord.  Take control of my life.  Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life.  Make me the kind of person you want me to be.  Amen.

At some point in our lives we will ask the question: How should I relate to God? This little essay is my humble attempt to answer that question – for I’ve concluded there is no greater issue in life.

Most people have some concept of God – viewing him as a higher power, a creator, a stern judge to be feared or a friend to be loved.  At various times I’ve had all these impressions of God.

It is no accident that you have received and are reading this.  Maybe you’ve been searching for truth.  Or maybe you’ve begun your faith journey but need to solidify basic understandings.  Perhaps you’ve been a long way from home, as I was years ago – uncertain about life’s purpose, its end, about eternity. Wherever you are, the adventure of growing and living in Christ never ends, but that process must be firmly rooted. The essential foundation is the transforming step of coming to Christ that I’ve described here.

My story in a nutshell

My quest to know who God is and how to relate to him began early, and has continued now for several decades. I was born in Ohio in 1938. My dad had recently begun his own business, a manufacturing company that made oil burners for home heating. The early years were very challenging. Not only was it under-financed, but with the onset of World War II, the company had to make radical adjustments just to survive.

In spite of the enormous energy consumed by the business, my parents devoted a lot of time to my two younger sisters and me. They took us to the Episcopal Church in our small town and made family vacations a priority.  We never doubted that we were loved.

I wanted a career in engineering like my dad and was able to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston (M.I.T.) – the nation’s premier engineering school. Boston held lots of attractions. Though church was not foremost among them, I maintained the practice of packing off to Sunday morning services. What I heard and experienced, while good, was not fully satisfying. I would often come away wondering if there was something more that I was missing.

Following my first year of college, I met Wendy, a lovely gal from Toronto. She and her family were different from other families I had known, and my curiosity to find out why grew each time we were together. While they were also active in an Anglican (Episcopal) church, they spoke easily of a personal and intimate relationship with God. They had a joy in their faith that I hadn’t experienced before, and this caused my spiritual search to intensify.  But I regularly ran into a conflict between their kind of abandon to God and the rational, logical approach that shaped my thinking and approach to issues.

After graduation, I began working in the aerospace industry in my home town in Ohio. Wendy and I were married a year later, and we began a family. A few years later, my dad asked me to join him in the family business – a small but stable company with twelve employees. It was a big change, but I sensed it was the right thing to do.

A one-two punch

After just a year working together, my dad had a fatal heart attack, and at age twenty-six I was left with the daunting challenge of leading the family business. Only a few months after his death, our factory caught fire and was almost destroyed.

These events had a huge impact on me. I was more earnest than ever in asking God for his help and guidance, yet compared to Wendy’s vibrant faith, I knew something was still missing. It was clear she had a much more vital relationship with God than I, yet I was unwilling to risk stepping fully into something that was not clear and logical to me.

God was patient with me – never forcing, never intruding. But he didn’t let me be satisfied either. After some years, I reached a point where I concluded I didn’t have to have it all figured out, that maybe a degree of pride was standing in the way of my trusting God more fully.

I can best describe what happened next as a surrender, a yielding to God, and to his son, Jesus Christ. In essence, I said, “I’m not sure what this all means, but I trust you, and I give myself to you. Be Lord of my life, and help me walk with you.”

What followed was an amazing peace – an assurance that he had accepted me just as I was. It was not because I had earned or deserved anything, but out of his love for me he had brought me to himself. I felt washed, clean, and for the first time, rightly related to God. It was as if I had come home.

My world began to change after encountering God in this way. I realized this newfound relationship was not intended solely for my private and family life, but should be influencing every aspect of my life, including my work. I began a process that has now continued over thirty years of integrating my faith and my work with results that have been nothing short of amazing. I’ve discovered many practical ways in which those two worlds come together, such as influencing employment practices, customer relations, finances and core values.

Since the early ’60s our small business has become our industry leader and we have spawned additional businesses, such that today we employ nearly six hundred people and generate about $100 million in sales. Our “experiment” – bringing faith and work together – has become internationally recognized and we have been able to help many other business leaders who are on a similar journey.

Now here is the key point.

Even though I was not fully aware of the significance of my step of faith, that step – when I released myself to God and to his care – was absolutely critical.

A business analogy

Look at it this way, if I can borrow from an important business concept. When our sales people are seeking a new customer, they work hard to build a relationship and create a desire for that customer to do business with us. That process can take a long time. But nothing is ultimately accomplished until a particular event occurs – we get an order or a contract. That transaction is absolutely pivotal. Then, of course, we work closely with the customer to fulfill his requirements. Success involves three distinct phases: a period of preparation; a specific transaction; and, an outworking or fulfillment.

There are similar stages when it comes to our spiritual journey. Initially, there’s a process in which God works to draw us to himself, and he has lots of ways of doing that – perhaps different for every person. He reveals himself to us, he woos us, he even allows us to go through difficult situations to get our attention. With me, he needed to bring me to the end of my independence and self-sufficiency. But regardless of how long it takes, his goal is to “complete a contract.” It is to bring us to a place where we trust him and release ourselves to his care.

At this point a new and deeply committed relationship begins. Spiritually, a person “comes home.” Life after that changes, and both parties delight in their new relationship – doing all they can to bring it to its fullest expression.

So why this essay?

I guess it’s because of the struggle and search I went through for years – when the way home was neither clear nor compelling. I have great sympathy for those who are confused. Perhaps like me, you think that it is enough to “be good,” to “do kind deeds,” to “be moral,” or to serve others. These are all important, but they are not transformational and cannot be equated with coming home spiritually by entering a personal, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

As a result of my experience, I have a deep desire to share what I’ve learned with others. I entered a relationship with God with a great example in Wendy and her family, but with very little understanding. Now, through insights gained from the Bible, from years of study and sound teaching, I have a much better grasp of how a person enters and walks out that vital relationship.

In the words that follow, I explain, as best I can, how one becomes properly related to God. I’m sure it won’t address every question. But I offer it to you as a reliable roadmap. I know it would have helped me on my journey, and I trust it will help you.

Next: Part 2 – In the Beginning

Entering a new orbit

D. Elton Trueblood, author, educator, philosopher and theologian states succinctly the magnitude of this change: “The new character, being finite, can still make mistakes and actually does so; but that is not the primary fact. The primary fact is that all of the person’s powers are employed in a new way and that his movements are dignified by a new direction. He is a wandering planet which becomes stable in its movements by entering a new orbit.”

As a new creation, we soon realize that our relationship to God has become wonderfully personal. We begin to actually experience his great love for us.  (It was there all along – we just didn’t know it!)  We no longer walk independently – doing our own thing.  We gladly submit to him, understanding his purposes for us are altogether good.  We can trust him.  Without reservation we can say as the Apostle John said, “We love him because he first loved us.”

I now realize this is what happened to me, back at my point of surrender.  I had been far away, but through the generosity, patience and mercy of a loving father, I was brought home.  I was welcomed into and made a member of God’s own family.

Following Christ

As I understand the Bible, what I have just described is the initiation into a new, vital and personal relationship with God.  You will notice I said nothing about trying to be “good enough.”  I’ve said nothing about earning this relationship, or even doing enough good deeds to deserve it.  We do not come to Christ simply by affiliation with a religious institution or by following tradition or by being born into a Christian family.

Our new relationship is a gift of God, given freely and specifically to the person who comes to Jesus. To re-emphasize a key point, it is essential to see that our surrender to Christ requires a decision. (This privilege to choose is entirely consistent with the capacity we were given by God to exercise our wills freely.  Thus we can likewise decide to reject God’s offer to us.)

Does what I’ve said seem disarmingly simple?  Unfortunately, the concept of yielding to Jesus as Lord and Christ – and thus receiving his remarkable salvation – has been so obscured, so wrapped up in extra ideas and extra words that many have been robbed of the wonderful simplicity of its truth.  How important it is that we not allow this to happen to us.

What God did in Jesus

While it is true that the message of salvation is not complex, we must not underestimate the incredible sacrifice Jesus made to open up the way home for us.

It might help to take a fresh look at this watershed moment in history.  God creates man, and almost immediately man falls through rebellion.  Then after thousands of years of preparation, at just the right time, God impregnates a young virgin girl named Mary who was engaged to a carpenter named Joseph.  A son is born, the Son of God himself.

Facing the temptations each of us faces, Jesus grows up without sin.  About age 30, after some fifteen years working as a carpenter, Jesus leaves his trade to begin proclaiming the message of his heavenly father’s kingdom.  Thousands follow him, scores are healed, even the dead are given back life.

Then the religious establishment, in collaboration with the government, arranges his death on trumped up charges.  Jesus is betrayed, arrested, tried, whipped and crucified.  He does not fight back, though he could have summoned huge armies of angels to rescue him.  Rather, he goes to the cross voluntarily. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, he is led like a lamb to the slaughter.  He dies.

Three days later, to the astonishment of even his closest followers, Jesus is raised from the dead.  He appears to hundreds of people, and after forty days, before the eyes of his incredulous disciples, goes up into heaven where he is reunited with God, his father, to become both Lord and Christ.  He then extends to us the possibility of becoming his followers – new creations!

Who can say this is not utterly amazing? I’m not sure the human mind can fully take it in. Yet this all occurred, very literally, for one central, majestic reason – so you and I can reestablish the kind of personal relationship with God that he intended from the beginning.  He made it possible to come home.

The way home

Let us look more closely at the process by which one becomes reconciled to the Father. (I have no intent of reducing this to a “formula.”  Being rightly-related to God is far too profound and deeply personal.  Yet there are essential elements, or steps.  Any, if absent, may result in an incomplete or ineffective second birth.)

• First, we must admit that we are separated from God. That chasm mentioned earlier is both wide and deep.  We received a fatal defect at birth and as a result, have lived our lives independently from him.  If we can’t come to grips with the reality of the sin that separates us from God, we’ll never come home spiritually, for there is no need for a savior.  Your statement before God might simply be, “Dear God, I realize I am separated from you by a nature flawed by sin.  All the human effort in the world won’t change that.”

• Second, we need to candidly acknowledge our sins (plural). This is essential preparation.  When we acknowledge, or confess our sins and consciously determine to turn away from them, or repent, God hears us and extends his mercy.  Out of his great love for us he forgives our sins.  The person who humbly opens up to God in this way will feel wonderfully clean from the accumulated filth that collects in our souls and spirits over a lifetime of living independently from God. In your own words, confess your sins before God.

• Third, we need to acknowledge who Jesus is. He is not just a good man, a great teacher, an inspired prophet.  He is the Son of God.  He was born of a woman who had never been sexually involved with a man.  He led a sinless life.  He died.  He was buried.  He rose again.  He ascended into heaven where he became both Lord and Christ.  Nothing less than this Jesus will do, for only he is qualified to be the remedy for sin.  We need to believe this, and declare it: “Jesus, I acknowledge you are the perfect, sinless Son of God, Lord over all, the savior of mankind.  I realize you love me, and you have been drawing me to yourself.”

• Fourth, we need to fully yield to him, accepting his sinless and saving life into ours, responding to his initiative to establish a new and personal relationship with him.  Our surrender is a choice – an act of our will.  Though we do not merit Jesus or the new life he offers, because of his unfathomable love for us, he receives us as we are and gives us a new nature, replacing the old.  He invites us into his kingdom and we become a new creation.  By a step of faith, a remarkable transaction occurs and we become a changed person.

At this point the root problem of sin has been dealt with in our lives.  We take on his life – a  life with a whole new quality to it. Jesus put it succinctly: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”  Something of heaven itself – alive, active and imperishable – indwells the new believer.

If we’ve approached him as I’ve outlined above, Jesus absolutely will transform us, reconciling us to our heavenly father.  We see this assurance in the gospel of John: “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”  This, to me, is the greatest miracle we could ever imagine – truly coming home to our father in heaven – for all this means in this life and in eternity.

Next: Part 3 – A Lifelong Journey

In the beginning…

In the early pages of the Bible, we get a glimpse of what it was like at the beginning, when Adam, the first man, walked in intimate fellowship with God. Their relationship was one of trust, delight, openness, respect and admiration. Work was different from today, with Adam tenderly and lovingly caring for God’s creation. It was productive and satisfying, completely free from stress, anxiety, corruption or ethical lapses.

But sadly, paradise was short-lived. The impact of what happened has touched the lives of each of us.

The biblical account goes on to tell us that mankind inherited a fatal defect when Adam gave in to temptation and rebelled against God. At the heart of his rebellion was Adam’s choice to walk independently from God, rather than in the open, dependent relationship he had initially. The intimate bond was fractured. From that point, beginning with Adam and Eve’s own children, man’s nature was ruled by violence, greed, jealousy, hatred and rebellion.  The Bible calls this sin.  Its result: death.

The Old Testament is an account of man’s struggle against sin and its consequences. God established temporary methods to cover for this now-fallen nature, but these methods did nothing to change that nature.  It remained the same.  Nor has it been improved by the passage of time, or increasing education, or scientific discovery or economic prosperity.  Man’s basic, or “fallen” nature is unaltered from the time of Adam.

First clues concerning the remedy

Shortly after sin entered the human race through Adam, God foretold the coming of One who would remedy the fatal defect. He then identified a people group, the Hebrews, as the family from whom this person would come.  Over hundreds of years, Hebrew prophets gave insight into the One who would restore the fractured relationship.

Then, a unique prophet named John was born.  He sounded forth a call urging people to change the way they were living (repent) and to receive forgiveness for their sins.  By the thousands, people responded and were baptized as evidence they had turned away from their defiled way of living.  John came to prepare the way for the One who would complete the task.  He took people as far as he could, but clearly stated that at God’s initiative, One would come after him Who would go to the root of the problem, the sin nature itself.

The remedy

When people repented for their wrongful way of life, their hearts were prepared to deal with sin, the underlying problem.  The true significance of Jesus – the One who was God’s perfect representative in human form – is that he, and he alone, had the credentials to deal with the root.

Jesus was like Adam in certain ways.  Both men were born free from the defect of sin.  Both were tempted and capable of falling into sin.  But here the two took radically different directions.  While Adam succumbed to temptation, Jesus did not.  He led a perfect life, serving as an impeccable example of how man should live.

So steadfast and pure was Jesus’ attitude, character and conduct that he went to his death completely free from sin.  Because of this he qualified as “the perfect sacrifice for sin.” When Jesus’ blood was shed in that agonizing and humiliating death by crucifixion, or being nailed to a cross – normally a death allotted to common criminals – he satisfied God’s requirement for a complete and permanent sacrifice for sin!

On the cross Jesus said, “It is finished.” He wasn’t referring to his life only, but to the problem of sin. Jesus had become God’s remedy.

Jesus was then raised from death and reunited with God, his father, who bestowed on his son the supreme high honor of headship over everything on earth and in heaven.  Jesus was made both Lord and Christ – positions he holds today.  “Lord” refers to his rulership.  “Christ” refers to his capacity to save.  He and he alone became the savior of mankind.

Bridging the chasm

Maybe it’s the engineer in me, but a concept I’ve found helpful is this: Adam’s fall resulted in a wide separation between us and God.  (I picture a formidable gorge, or chasm – the kind that pioneers faced in their westward pilgrimage across the U.S.)

The Old Testament people looked longingly toward the land beyond the chasm, but couldn’t get there. Then God sent his son Jesus as a bridge to the other side.  Through Jesus’ obedience the mission was accomplished, and for the first time the way was opened for every person to leave their past, cross over and be reunited with the Father.

The implications for us

Jesus, as savior, has as his highest priority to draw all men and women, young and old, to himself. He intensely loves us and wants us to be complete in our relationship with Him and with his father, God.  But he cannot do it apart from our acknowledging and working through the sin issue, for sin forms the chasm that separates us from God.

To deal with sin – or to complete the “transaction” I mentioned earlier in the business analogy – one needs to make a straightforward, yet life-changing decision. It is to ask forgiveness for our sin, and surrender to Jesus, the Lord. When a person yields to Jesus, God responds in the most intimate way – by literally and completely releasing us from sin – the root of the problem.  Jesus becomes my Lord, my savior.

By surrendering to Jesus, we cross over the bridge. Sin no longer separates us from God. This is described by the Apostle Paul, an early convert to Christianity and proclaimer of truth about Jesus. “He (God) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son (Jesus).”  Thus a complete change of residency occurs!  We come home spiritually.

Not only is the person who comes to Jesus in this way freed from sin, but that person also receives a new nature – the nature of Jesus himself. Again to quote the Apostle Paul, “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

In reality, we have experienced a second birth. The first was a natural birth, which came with a fallen nature. The second is a spiritual birth, free of this basic defect.  It is a brand new start. We become a new person!

Next: Part 3 – Entering a New Orbit