For anyone who chooses to absorb and take seriously the change our awakening urges, the mirror into which we must peer, the one called honesty, adheres only to the mere standard of choice. For the Christian, the transformation before him becomes the imperative by which such a life is measured. He must compare, not against simply the person he was or is, not the person next to him, but to the person of Jesus Christ. As Christ was, a Christian is called to be in the world but not of the world. This standard is high, unattainable if logic is applied reasonably. Can anyone escape a nature so natural? When honest with what is plain, that we are not what we think we are, that is, think we are wholly good, Christians and non-Christians must reach this same conclusion of unattainability. Here, the path diverges. The non-Christian strives to be only a better person, something resting within his purview, what he wills to be true for himself. His only hurdle is himself, his only standard becomes what will another think of me. His worldview is his own, and within that horizon there is comfort.
The Christian has no such luxury. No Christian can rest in his belief in Christ. To be clear, the word belief has come to mean something true as accepted fact. To be true requires only that the fact be notated among all other facts, thereby equal. Using this standard, I can say I believe in Christ as I believe water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Each is certainly true, but to leave it there is rather dry and cold. Belief in Christ is a life in Christ, something more meaningful and problematic if we take the word belief as trust, not fact. To trust in Christ means we are to give our life to Him, to understand Him, to become like Him, to actually do what He says. Now, the Christian confronts a problem—he is called to be Christlike, the person who was tempted but never sinned and possesses the whole divine nature of God. Knowing we have sinned, we recognize we cannot put the genie back in the bottle. We cannot be Christ, but we can be Christlike. This is good news. The way is not easy, but God promises to take us there, to be there on the journey. Effort may be given to the endeavor but not earning. Jesus made the purchase for us. We owe nothing but devotion and praise, to disciple others who will recognize Him by the change in us. The loss of the old life, what was knowable and known, may carry a sense of grief against the unseen and unknowable faith that a life in Christ asks of us. After all, relinquishing control is hard because control is such a salve for the self-willed life. No one wishes to have the lollipop pulled from their mouth. But isn’t this what God does?