The best news for anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and His finished work is the salvation one has now from eternal separation from God in hell and how we are now assured of eternal glory with Him forever.
It's ironic, however, that some Christians feel stuck thinking that God can save people from hell, but not be able to change them in this present age.
Have you ever struggled with a sin that you felt you would carry to your grave? Haven't we all? Sin is no laughing matter. It hooks itself to our hearts and clings so heavily that it can feel impossible to ever see freedom from it. We do all we can to stop these struggles, but to no avail.
That's because left to our own, we cannot defeat sin. But in Christ, all sin has been defeated and we are now set free from it. Not only are we set free from the punishment of sin—eternal separation from God—but we can also be set free from its presence in our life. If Jesus can change our destination, He can change our journey as well.
Ezekiel 36:26 tells us, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
God can give us new desires, but He needs us to surrender our hearts to Him before He could do that. You can't expect Apple to fix your iPhone if you don't surrender it, so why do we expect God to fix our hearts if we don't give it up to Him first?
So many Christians are trapped in the thinking that they'll just have to wait for heaven to be free from certain sin struggles and consequences, but that's not true. We can experience God's healing touch through the power of the cross today. We can experience God's grace and goodness here on earth just as it is in heaven. And it's all by His grace.
Titus 2:11-12 says, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age."
God's grace does not just pardon us of our sin and shame, but also rids us of the spiritual sickness that is sin. We can experience freedom from shameful struggles today. We don't have to wait for heaven to be cleansed.
While I believe that no one can be perfect on this earth because of how broken it is in sinfulness, that doesn't mean we cannot progress in our walk with God. Sure there will always be another sin to deal with and another struggle to defeat, but as long as we walk in Christ, we are assured of victory in every battle. We can and will change from glory to glory if we surrender to Christ.
