Therefore, it is human beings who must be changed. Transforming humanity from a sinful nature to a divine nature requires a long process. The stake is one’s entire life, without limit. In Colossians 1:21, it is stated that human disobedience to God is an attitude of hostility toward God. Indeed, through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are reconciled, but that reconciliation does not take place automatically. There must be a step from both sides. When Jesus died on the cross for us, it was a passive act of reconciliation. Even when we were still enemies, we were already reconciled. Before we were born, Jesus had already provided that reconciliation. However, after we come into existence as human beings, we must choose.
Many people become Christians from childhood because their parents are Christians. In reality, they become Christians without choosing to do so. In this sense, they have not yet become true Christians. If parents can provide an example of how to follow Jesus by imitating His life, even to the point of suffering for the Lord, only then will children see that such a life cannot be followed automatically. The child must struggle to possess that life and to follow Jesus correctly.
From God’s side, everything has already been done. God has already begun. The Father completed it at Golgotha by sending His Son as the way of reconciliation. However, from the human side, there must also be concrete steps or actions to realize that reconciliation.
In Colossians 1:19–23, it says:
“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Still, now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation. If you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the Gospel, which you have heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”
From this passage, it is clearly seen that there is a possibility that a person may be “shifted away” from the hope of the Gospel if he continues to love the world and live according to the flesh. This aligns with James 4:4: “You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” If our happiness still depends on worldly material things, we become enemies of God. A person who lives to satisfy his own desires is building friendship with the world and hostility toward God. This is what it means to live in the flesh.
Romans 8:7 says, “For the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not submit to the law of God; indeed, it cannot.” If we still follow the desires of the flesh, we make ourselves enemies of God. Do not say that we have already been reconciled with God. The process of putting to death the flesh, ambitions, and lusts is not easy. However, with time and an increasingly resolute commitment, it can be accomplished—though it may still be unstable. The more we become like Jesus, the more at peace we can be with God. The standard for being reconciled with God is Jesus Himself. Since the desires of the flesh are hostile toward God, the flesh must be put to death.
A person who is easily angered, wants to strike others, especially if he feels powerful, threatens, wants to imprison others, and takes pride in harming others, is a person who is not at peace with God. Ironically, such things can occur within the church environment, even among elders and pastors. Therefore, we learn: when we are hurt, we remain silent; when we are slandered, we remain silent; when we are bullied, we remain silent. Why? Because we want to be at peace with God. If we are provoked to anger and retaliate, we actually make ourselves enemies of God.