The Triumph of Surrender by William Fletcher

Author:William Fletcher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Navigators
Published: 1987-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

ADEQUATE ENABLING

“Converted from emptiness to emptiness!” This was the phrase one reporter used to describe the “conversion” of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst after her capture by the bizarre Symbionese Liberation Army in the early 1970s.

According to news media reports, Hearst was kidnapped by this leftist group and held prisoner in a closet in an old house somewhere in San Francisco. At first she resisted her captors, but later she claimed that she was convinced of their cause, so she joined them. She was eventually arrested with some of that same group and tried for armed robbery.

Whatever may have happened to Patty Hearst, it is obvious that her claimed conversion was not the biblical rebirth spoken of in John 3.

God’s purpose in salvation is not simply to give us a new label but rather to give us a new life. It is not His plan to pick us up out of the wrecking yard of sin, only to dust us off, paint us over, tune us up, and send us back into the fast-moving traffic of life. Too many modern “Christians” are claiming this kind of superficial rebirth experience.

While many professing Christians show no evidence of belonging to God’s family, the apostle Peter sees it quite differently. He seems to shout out to our apathetic age, echoing God’s command in Leviticus: “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY” (1 Peter 1:16)!

Roger C. Palms, writing in Decision magazine, shares his concern over the watered-down variety of Christianity now common among us. He calls for holiness of life among believers.

Where is holiness? In recent years people, including Christian people, have become quite forgiving of themselves. That which is relative, that which is situational, that which is according to conscience, that which works for them, has become the test for what is good and right and fair. And with that has come a rather universal decision that holiness is what one thinks it is or feels that it is — never mind the commands of God.1

Clearly these popular notions do not square with Scripture. When God calls us to salvation in Christ, it is a call to participate in the life of His Son. The Christian life begins with a birth (see John 3:3). This is the beginning of life in the family of God. Just as earthly parents look eagerly for a family resemblance in their children, so God expects us to manifest godliness as His children. To put it simply, He looks for evidence of the family likeness in us. Thus, because God is holy, it is only logical for Him to look for holiness in His children.

Yes, living the Christian life is a high calling. And God does rightfully expect a great deal from His children. We are partakers of His life. Certainly we are also still human, with human limitations. But this does not detract from the reality of our experience in Christ. As Paul puts it, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

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