Biblically, there are only two types of people in the world. There are those who are lost and do not know Jesus Christ and those who do. To those who are lost and spiritually dead to God, there is only one divine purpose for them. That purpose is that they may be convicted of the reality of their sinful nature and come to understand they are incapable of achieving the righteousness of God by their own works and effort. God wants them to see that they have already been judged and condemned in their sin and the penalty is spiritual death and eternal separation from Him. That is the only work that God is doing in the lives of the lost. He is not hearing or answering their prayers. He is not leading them in spiritual growth. He is not providing them with internal peace about their lives on earth. This is the clear teaching of the Bible when it is accepted at face value.
The second type of person on this earth is one who has made true repentance of their sin, accepted Christ as their Lord and believed in His deity and His resurrection. These people are graced with a new status in God’s kingdom. For these elect, God has one purpose and one purpose only. His purpose is that they will be conformed into the image of Jesus and the conformation process begins the moment a person becomes a believer. God is going to take everything that happens in the life of that believer and use it to make him or her more and more like Jesus. To become more and more like Jesus means to think like Jesus, to see other people as Jesus sees them and to love like Jesus loves. If we are not learning to love as Jesus loves we are carnal. We are like the Corinthians.
Every person who ever came to Christ came in a condition of powerlessness, humility and total surrender. The convicting work of the Holy Spirit upon them when they were lost was successful. They came to Him ready to do His will and to allow Him to begin a mighty work in them. The problem is that many Christians don’t really understand the process. They expect to be saved on Sunday and to be perfect by Monday! They do not understand that God intends to completely destroy their flawed Body of Truth and replace it with the mind of Christ. They do not understand they must recognize the error of the lies they believe and give them up. They do not understand that their life has become none of their business. They do not understand that God is not concerned about their wealth or anything else of the world. God’s sole purpose is to conform them into the image of Jesus.
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