If you received 1 million dollars today, your life would instantly change. Your bank account would look different, your credit score would go up, where you lived would improve, what you wore and drove would change, and even who you hung around would change. There’s no doubt that receiving a million dollars would create real change in your life that would be evident to all. It would improve your way of living and would most likely affect those closest to you as well.
It would be strange if someone received 1 million dollars and nothing about them or their way of living changed. We would have to question if they received anything at all. As naturally as we would expect someone’s life to change if they received this opportunity, in the same way, we should naturally expect someone’s life to change when they receive Christ. When we receive Christ, there should be clear, gradual evidence that we have received Him. There should be evidence of change in every area of our life. I can’t just say I’ve received Christ and yet there be no evidence that He is really in my life. Just like the million dollars, when someone receives the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, He begins to bring about good change in every area. The way you think, speak, handle situations, carry yourself, treat others, the places you go, and the people you hang around all begins to gradually change when you accept Christ. In fact, Christ begins to change your life in areas and in ways that 1 million dollars could never accomplish. And when Christ comes into your life, He EXPECTS change, He doesn’t expect to be hidden or to be put to the side while you continue to live your life as usual. He doesn’t expect to be pushed off while you continue to run your life. When Christ comes into your life, He wants to be your Lord – He wants to run and rule your life. He wants to transform your life so much so that it’s evident to ALL that He has entered in.
Wouldn’t it be crazy if someone received 1 MILLION DOLLARS and they did absolutely nothing with it? We would think something was seriously wrong with them. We would think that they don’t truly understand the value of what they have or how powerful it would be if they put that money to use. Many people say that they have received Christ, but they do nothing with Him – or rather, they don’t allow Him to do anything in them. They have received Christ in word only because they don’t understand His value, they don’t understand the power that He has to really transform their whole life. They don’t understand the potential that is on the other side of their total surrender to Him. And they don’t understand that after the initial confessing with your mouth, there should come a heart transformation – there would be a “believing unto righteousness” (Rom.10:10). So many people are professing Christ but still living dead in their sin, still living bound, and still defeated in every area because they won’t cash in on what Christ has to offer.
Colossians 2:6 says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” If you have received Jesus, then walk in Him – walk in His way, His nature, His word; let there be evidence that you have received Him at all. Let there be proof that the free gift of salvation was given to you and that you opened it. PUT ON CHRIST! Walk in Him! It’s not enough to just say you have Him or to just say that you believe in Him, you must walk in Him; there should be fruit behind your confession.
When you receive that million dollars, you’ll immediately put it in your bank account and put it to work to change your life. Likewise, if you say you have received Christ, allow Him in your heart so that He can do a work in you that all the world can see.