ROMANS 7:4 – Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
THEME OF THE DAY – TRANSFORMED AND TRANSFERRED. So much happens when a person becomes a Christian. We are declared righteous before God, justified. We are adopted into His family. We are saved from His wrath. We are part of His Son’s body, the church . We are given the certain hope of heaven. And the list goes on and on with all the riches God gives us in salvation. Yet, we may simplify what occurs in the life of a person God places in His Son and family to a couple of words; the words comprising the theme of today’s nugget – transformed and transferred. Both implied and explicit in today’s scripture. As we understand the radical nature of these two truths of salvation, our joy in the Lord deepens and our purpose in life is seen with greater clarity.
First, at salvation, a life is transformed. Jesus called this, “Born again” (John 3:5-7). The Apostle Paul would define this transformation as becoming a new creature – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).We may know immediately if we are transformed by God through Christ by the radical changes in our desires and pursuits in life. The world and all its pleasures lose their attractions to us. They slowly but surely are abandoned in our hearts and minds to be replaced by the greater pleasures of the Lord Jesus and the things of the Spirit. But that is not all. A truly transformed life by Christ also becomes a completely transferred life to Christ.
Also, at salvation, our lives are transferred. We become “owned property” of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a common theme throughout the New Testament. In the letter to the Corinthians, a people of God who forgot this as evidenced by their selfish preferences and desires, the Apostle Paul drives home the truth of “life transfer” of those saved by Christ – Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
As we grow in understanding salvation, we begin to see the inseparable relationship between a life transformed by Christ and a life transferred to Christ. They are one work. And in this spiritual work, we discover the joy not only of salvation but of being owned by the Lord Jesus .To be owned by Him, we are in the greatest place for now and eternity. It is the place we live under the yoke of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us so that He might claim us as His own!
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for the grace that saves and owns me as Your very own .’
QUOTE: “Always remember God saved us to own us and that is the greatest joy a human may know”