Life is a bathtub

It's been a little while, so let's recap the previous post. We learned from Romans 5:8 that Christ died for us while we were enemies of God. Being broken, we deserved death, but He fixed us and brought us life. Therefore, we are no longer sinners, but saints!

So now you're saying, "Hold up. I don't know about you, but all the Christians I know (especially the writer of this blog) sure aren't very saintly! Plus, why should we even try to be good? Doesn't this mean we can do whatever we want and God will forgive us at the end?"

Well, as it is a lot of times, it's story time:

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There once was a certain boy and his family lived on a large plot of land. The land contained fields and forests, so the boy (like most kids his age) loved to explore them and have imaginary adventures about knights, cowboys and indians, and all the things of that sort. One summer day, he was conquering France, but as he was rushing into battle the ground gave out from under him. He fell quite a long way, and after coming to his senses, he realized he had fallen into an old well.

At first, he scratched and clawed at the well's walls to climb out. He tried this for hours and night began to fall, but he did nothing except hurt his hands. Filled with despair, he wailed for help through the night. This pattern of climbing, failing, wailing, and crying continued for several days.

On the fourth day, the boy had become delirious. As he was contemplating how much longer he would live, he saw the light change in the well. He looked up to the well's opening and saw a black spot covering part of it. After staring at it, he gained his focus and noticed it was a man's face! The face's mouth was also moving. The boy began to listen to what the face was saying, "I'm going to lower a basket to you! When it gets down there, get inside of it and I will lift you up!" So, the man lowered a basket, the boy got in, the man lifted him out of the well, and the boy was free!

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Now most stories would end there. Yay, the boy is free! He's going to live happily after! He's out of the well! But we have to take a very important fact into consideration: the boy probably smelled really bad. On top of that, he was probably muddy, sweaty, dirty, and covered with things we probably don't want to think about. He was starving, thirsty, and on on the verge of fainting. The man that saved him from the well could have been having second thoughts about saving him! (Not really, just trying to make a lame joke)

So what would any sensible man saving that boy do after seeing him in that condition? Well, of course, he would wash him and feed him!

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So, the man first gave the boy a warm meal, and then gave him soap and allowed him to take a bath. The boy had a tough time getting some of the grime off, so the man offered a scrub that was pretty uncomfortable. The boy reluctantly used it, but after the grime was off, he was happy he used it. Once all this was done, the man gave the boy a fresh set of clothes.

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Now we can really say the boy lived happily ever after! Ok, so what the heck does this have to do with sin, sainthood, and all those weird Christian terms?

Let's say what you said earlier in the post:

"Hold up. I don't know about you, but all the Christians I know (especially the writer of this blog) sure aren't very saintly! Plus, why should we even try to be good? Doesn't this mean we can do whatever we want and God will forgive us at the end?"

Alright, so imagine that we're the boy, and when we're born, we're in that well. We have no hope, and the only way we're going to survive is if somebody comes and pulls us back to the surface. Who is that somebody? Christ! Like we said in last post, when Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, He lowered the basket and brought us out of the well!

Before we move any further, we have to realize that at this point on, we are out of the well. We are saved! We are free! We are.....saints! But like the boy, when we get out of the well, we smell pretty bad. We're covered with bad habits like drug addictions, alcoholism, sexual impurity, and even more "normal" things like anger, jealousy, rage, fowl language, insert sin here.

When God saves us from the well through His Son, He's not done with you. In fact, He's really only getting started. He wants to give you a warm meal. He wants to make you smell good. He wants to clean all the grime off of you. He wants to make you......perfect. Jesus even tells us to "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). You may ask, "Why?" But in the context of the story, I'm sure the boy didn't want to be dirty and smell bad. In the same manner, I'm sure we don't want want to suffer the consequences of sinning. God wants to make you perfect because He knows it's the best thing for you. Like the scrub the boy used, it may be uncomfortable as He shapes us, but once we are clean we realize that the discomfort was worth it. God does not make rules for us because that's how we measure up to Him; God makes rules for us because He has already saved us and really wants the best for us.

So, knowing all of this, we can respond to what was said earlier. To answer in reverse order, the reason we don't just keep on sinning to get forgiven again is simple: Once you are out of the well, it doesn't make any sense to get more dirty. Once Christ has saved us from our sin, we really have no option but to follow Him. Following Him involves listening to what He says, so that's why we want to be good.

And last, the reason every Christian you know doesn't seem very saintly is because we are all living somewhere in between getting lifted up out of the well and leaving the man's house. Until the day we die, God is going to keep washing us. He is going to keep molding us into His likeness. He is going to pry, reach, and clean the deepest and darkest places of our lives because He loves us. It may be uncomfortable, but after all, do you really want to smell bad? =D

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2