If It Doesn't Change You, It Didn't Save You

Luke 8:16, No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

Those in whom the good word has taken root (see preceding verses on the Parable of the Sower) cannot hide it. Who would dare hide the wonderful work God is doing in his life? If the faith is genuine, it will work its way outward for “there is nothing covered that will not be revealed” (v. 17). Those who hear and take God’s word to heart, living out what they know of His revelation, will receive more illumination while those who ignore the heart of the Father revealed them by the person of Christ through the illumination of the Spirit will lose even the little revelation they have received (v. 18). Such was God's judgment of the Pharisees, the best biblical scholars of their day.

There are many who insist they have a branch in God's family tree, but only those who hear God’s word and live it out, or bear fruit, can claim a genuine connection with the life-giving Vine of John 15. For how could one who claims to have been grafted into the tree of life Himself fail to produce the fruit that naturally comes from fusion with such potent power? Any who have been joined to Christ will bear fruit and live as He lived (I John 2:4-6).

All who call themselves Christians should take Paul's advice in II Corinthians 13:5 and look for evidence of Christ in our lives. Christians are not simply those who choose to bear Christ name; rather they are those who resemble the God-man after whom they are named. Is Christ's light shining in us? If so, it should be visible to those around us just like Jesus' was.