Being saved
I'm saved. Does it matter how I live?
Short answer
Yes, very much. Grace saves you as a gift, and the same grace trains you to grow up. Real faith shows itself in a changed walk.
You are saved by grace through faith, not by how well you live. But the same grace “instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:12). Grace that changes nothing is not the grace of the Bible.
New believers start on milk, and that is fine. The problem is staying there. Paul told the Corinthians, “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready” (1 Corinthians 3:2). Their jealousy and quarrels showed it. Hebrews says the same: “solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).
Growing up means learning to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). The flesh produces things like sexual immorality, hatred, jealousy, rage and drunkenness, and Paul warns “that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21). The Spirit grows love, joy, peace, patience and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Jesus is just as plain: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). John writes, “If anyone says, ‘I know Him,’ but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar” (1 John 2:4). And we are to pursue holiness, “without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). These words are not there to frighten honest strugglers. They wake up anyone who thinks a prayer once prayed lets them live as they like.
This week: read a Gospel every day and do one thing it says. Ask the Spirit for help each morning. Name one sin you have made peace with and bring it into the light, with God and with one Christian you trust. Go to church on Sunday, and if you aren't baptised yet, ask about it. You won't be perfect, but you will grow, because “it is God who works in you to will and to act” (Philippians 2:13).
My verses
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone. It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age, as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?
Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food! For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him: Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.