BORN AGAIN INTO A LIVING HOPE

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By Akin Ojumu

Contrary to what you may have been told by your Pastor and daddy-in-the-Lord, Christianity is not a five-star hotel furnished with leather-soft beds, cushy duvets, and smooth luxurious sheets. When you come to Christ, you are not coming to lay in a sumptuous pool sprinkled with scented roses and sip pina colada for the rest of your life.

When you choose Christ, you are venturing on a road of pain overlaid with shards of broken glasses. Becoming a Christian is like setting on a path paved with burning coals. The road is going to get pretty rough, and you should expect the going to be extremely tough.

Turning to God, away from the world of sin, is to bring the wrath of hell upon yourself. Surrendering your life to Christ is an invitation of fierce opposition from the people you love most. Your family will disown you, friends will reject you, and the world will turn against you. Be prepared to be mocked, scorned, and shunned like you’ve got some highly transmissible viral disease.

You’ll be sorely disappointed if you think your financial situation is going to suddenly change when you come to Christ. If you are poor when you get saved, don’t expect your bank account to turn from ruby red to bright green. Don’t kid yourself, it ain’t gonna happen

If you are sick in your body, becoming a Christian will not make your sickness disappear like a miracle. Receiving Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior won’t alter anything about your present living conditions in this world. It may, in fact, make them even worse. Becoming a Christian will not inoculate you from the affliction, calamity, and misfortune of this world.

You may be asking, “What then is the point of coming to Christ if doing so won’t bring about any improvement to my health, wealth, and life’s situation?” Well, wait until you hear about the incredible benefit package that comes with accepting Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior.

First and foremost, the day you come to Christ is the day you become adopted into God’s family; a closely knit family comprising of only those whom God Himself has personally chosen even before the foundation of the world. As a member of God’s elect, the Creator of all things becomes your Father, and you, His child. 

As a child of God, you become a rightful heir of an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance reserved for you in Heaven. When you get born again, you become a beneficiary of a living hope that the world longed for but never had.

Also, when you accept Christ you enjoy the benefit of having your entire life garrisoned, i.e., come under the Divine Protective Services, by God's power through your faith till you fully inherit the final salvation, that blessed glorification of all believers, that is ready to be revealed for you in Jesus’ kingdom.

Furthermore, when you surrender your life to Christ you partake in the one thing the world chases after in all their life’s pursuits but never obtain. You start to experience that which the world runs after, unconsciously, in riches, fame, relationships, hobbies, and habits but never attain. 

When you come to Christ, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding suffuses your heart and courses through the veins of your mind. Everything comes into their proper perspective, and an unexplainable fulfillment and contentment fill your soul.

Listen my friend, there’s nothing you lack or suffer in this world that is comparable to the glory reserved for you in the world to come. No eye has seen it, no ear has heard it, and no mind has imagined it, what the LORD has prepared for those who love Him. You may be poor, sick, and rejected now, but the whole creation awaits, with eager expectation and longing, for the revealing of the glory that God has in store for you.

So, roll up your sleeves, folks. Get your head in the game, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when the Lord returns. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy.” Beloved, you’ve got to be holy.

Bible References: 1 Peter, Romans 8, and 1 Corinthians 2.

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