It may be true that many Christian people almost completely misunderstand the Divine redemption. They are under the impression that Christ died in order to forgive what they are and bring them to Heaven to live forever in the Paradise of God. They perceive the tribulations of this life as unnecessary harassments sent by the devil out of spite. They conceive of belief in Christ Jesus as a ticket to a better life in Heaven and, according to contemporary preaching, a more prosperous life on earth.

But the Divine redemption is not the forgiving and preserving of what we are. Redemption is not a forgiving of our behavior and a transferring of our personality to the spirit Paradise.

God is not saving what we are. God is saving us from what we are.

Redemption is the perishing of what we are and the forming of a new creation. It is true also that redemption does not consist in removing the new creation from the earth. We go to Heaven when we die only because our Life, Christ Jesus, is in Heaven. When our Life returns to the earth, then we also will return to the earth. Our land of promise is the earth.

The Divine redemption is not a transfer from earth to Heaven. What would that accomplish? What good would that do us or anyone else? Rather the Divine redemption is a transformation of what we are. If we have not been transformed we have not been redeemed, whether or not we escape Hell when we die.

Our outward man, our soul and body, perish every day because of trouble, perplexity, persecution, and heavy burdens. Our circumstances continually are frustrating and grieving us, resulting (if we hold steady in prayer and faith) in the death and resurrection of our ambitions, motives, thoughts, and everything else that moves and guides a human being.

Why are pain, bewilderment, and imprisonment necessary? They are necessary because apart from them our original personality continues to govern our behavior.

After we receive Christ Jesus a new personality begins to enter us, a personality born from above. Its ambitions, motives, and thoughts are contrary to those of our old nature. The new man is Christ in us. He is the Kingdom of God. In order for Him to grow our old nature must be struck down continually.

Our old nature will fight furiously for its life, but it must be killed for it cannot inherit the kingdom of God. It is the new man who is blessed of God. If we will allow the Lord to crucify our old nature, the Lord will renew and bless our new nature each day. This is how we grow in Christ, how Christ grows in us. This is the Kingdom of God—the transforming of us into the image of the glory of the Lord.

How about you? Are you content with what you are or do you wish to become a new creation in Christ? (from Change)