Christ’s exalted position at God’s right hand enables us to live in victory, even when circumstances appear threatening. God sees us as perfect in His Son, despite our human imperfections. We need to see ourselves as God sees us, which is as “more than conquerors”!
Christ’s death and resurrection justified those who were chosen “in him” before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). God’s foreknowledge of our decision to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is the basis of our relationship with Him. Whatever we do, God knew (and whatever we could have but chose not to do as well).
There’s no place in God’s foreknowledge for fatalistic thinking on our part. The End will show that whatever we did or did not do — the good and the bad — God foreknew. He saw The End from the Beginning. Yet despite having read — not written — our biography beforehand, he allows it to be worked out over our lifetime. It’s the way it had to be! However else could our decisions in life and God’s desire for us end in a perfect balance? In Chapter 8 of the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul covers this so well that none of our questions remain unanswered.
Our heavenly standing influences our earthly state, but Justification and Sanctification are two different aspects of salvation. The first is what God did for us in Jesus on the Cross, and the second is what we do in response by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Heartfelt fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit is our response to the legal relationship that we have with God. It is based on what Jesus did for us — not on anything that we can do for ourselves. A son may fall out of fellowship with his father, but the relationship with him was determined from the son’s birth.
However, the fellowship between them will require maintenance from time to time. This may be due to the father’s genes appearing in the personality of the son, much to the latter’s dismay!
You are writing your biography day by day in the decisions you make and the road you take. God is not neutral: He says, “Choose life that you may live!” Salvation begins with your decision, and continues with your journey. Jesus is The Way and God is The Destination.
I wouldn’t miss it for the world! Heaven is watching your life as it plays out day by day in the things you do and don’t do, so do make sure that it ends well!