Who Am I After Salvation Through Jesus Christ?
After we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are washed clean of all of our sins, past, present and future. This begins the moment we receive, by faith, God’s free offer of forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This salvation we receive will give us power over the sins that once enslaved us. Yes, we will still sin, but rather than wallowing in it like a pig in the slop, like a dog returning to the vomit, we will run from it. And when we do sin, God will teach us through it, and like a loving parent, He will discipline us through love.
The Holy Spirit will live in your heart after salvation. He will help you grow in your walk and relationship with Jesus. We will talk about signs of growth in Core Principle Number Six.
According to Peter, our response to salvation should include:
1.) Loving other believers
2.) Getting rid of evil desires and actions like old clothes 3.) Desiring the Word of God
The Holy Spirit will give us the power we need to respond in these ways and to reject our old sinful desires. After salvation, and through the Holy Spirit’s help, the Fruits of the Spirit will start to manifest in our lives. What are the Fruits of the Spirit you ask? Galatians 5:22-23 tells us they are Love, Joy, Peace, Forbearance, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Let us take a look at each one of these.
1.) Love. 1John 4:8 tells us that Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Love will always seek the welfare of others. As Philippians 2:3 tells us, love chooses to set aside one’s own preferences, desires, and needs to put others first.
2.) Joy. John 15:4-11 says that when we cling tightly to Jesus, abiding daily in our relationship with Him, we will experience the fullness of Joy that He promised.
3.) Peace. After salvation, you will be able to bring all of your worries, fears, and concerns to God in prayer. When you fill your mind with God’s Word and to think about the things of God, you will find peace.
4.) Patience (Forbearance). This can be very difficult in our fast-paced world. After salvation, you will have everything you need to be patient. The Holy Spirit wants us to display His character to others. You will find yourself being patient during the most trying circumstances.
5.) Kindness. This will be reflected in the way you treat others and goes hand in hand with patience and goodness.
6.) Goodness. You will find, after your salvation, that you will want to show a goodness and generosity to everyone you meet. You posses the integrity that the world so longs for.
7.) Faithfulness. Salvation and a life following Christ will bring reliability as well as trustworthiness. We will be faithful to others. We will also be faithful to our Savior through abiding in His word as well as obedience. Our in dwelling Holy Spirit, once again, gives us this ability.
8.) Gentleness. Philippians 4:5 tells us to let our gentleness be evident to all. Gentleness and humility are very similar. Many in our secular world see these as weaknesses. God sees them as strengths and really that is all that matters. Gentleness helps bring about unity within the body of all believers in Jesus Christ.
9.) Self-Control. Once again, salvation brings us the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to resist sin and temptations and to say no to our fleshly desires. Self-control also helps us grow closer in our relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
One of the things we all have is a past, a “who we were before salvation” story. And if we are born again believers in Jesus Christ, we will have a “who we are after salvation” story.
1 Peter 3:15 tells us to always be ready in case someone asks you why you believe the way you do. “Our Story” is this reason. Many many people have come out of addiction, homelessness, imprisonment, and much worse through the healing power of Jesus Christ and have literally become Sons and Daughters of God.
After salvation, we will have, not only the blessing of a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe (and everything in it), we will also have the hope and assurance that we will be spending eternity in a mansion that Jesus Christ has prepared just for us for all of eternity.
We must remember, we all will still sin, but when we do, we must turn from it, run from it and avoid it. This is called repenting. We will get into this in our Core Principle Number Six.