The New Believer, Philippians 4:14-15

"Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need."

     I think there are two kinds of new believers, new Christians that are common in our country. One is the kind that, as soon as they accept the Lord, change dramatically and start living a life of zeal for and devotion to the Lord. The other is the kind where they accept the Lord, and then there are no outward signs that they actually did anything, but you may catch little glimpses here and there. Sure, eventually they are living lives visibly devoted to God�but in the beginning, it�s almost imperceptible. These people puzzle me!

     We see in Philippians that Paul thanks the Philippian church for all they had given him, noting that they, as new believers, gave to him even when none of the other, maybe longer-established, churches gave anything.
     When we first come to Christ, I believe it is important to start to do good works out of the love that Christ has shown us. He has freed us from sin, released us from the bondage we were in because of it. He showed His love for us by dying on the cross and paying for our sins! It is important, therefore, that we make manifest that freedom, that joy and peace that He has put in our hearts.

     When I first accepted Christ, I was one of the �type 2� new believers�those whose new faith is sort of a �closet faith�. I felt a little different, but not a whole lot. I read my Bible, but not a whole lot. I think that my life pretty much stayed the same. The problem with that is, like a dog returning to its vomit, I returned to the life of sin I had lived in for the previous twenty years! My being a �wishy-washy� new believer, one not all for Christ, not knowing much about Christ, I didn�t jump in with my whole heart and slid backwards into the same patterns I�d lived in before I accepted Christ.
     There came a day though, when the Lord revealed Himself to me. He had opened up my heart to see I needed Him and His salvation a month and a half earlier, but I didn�t do anything with that salvation. He pried me away from the life I was living, throwing my whole world into a tumult, and because of it�because of being torn away from the one I'd put all my hopes and dreams in�I saw Christ. As Isaiah saw the Lord the year Uzziah, the greatest king of Israel, died, I too saw the Lord the day my life as I knew it died. The day I died to my wants and my hopes, I saw the Lord. That day, the Lord healed my broken heart and truly set me free.

     When a person truly sees Jesus for who He is, when they see the price that He paid at Calvary, there is no choice but absolute surrender to God. When a person experiences the working of God in their hearts and lives, how could they not abandon all claims to their life? How could they not live a life of passionate love for Jesus Christ? It was His passionate love for us that set us free, and it is our reasonable sacrifice to give our all to Him and for Him. Jesus described love as this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.