Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
...There should be some change in their lives. And it should continue over time. But becoming a Christian was never a promise that sin would just go away. ...
The prayer that Jesus provided as the pattern for the disciples turns from God and the kingdom with "forgive our trespasses." There was never any hint that this part of the prayer would eventually become useless... there is a large spectrum in progress.
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I appreciate
OBW spelling this out. One parable on the idea of making progress is in Luke chapter 16 where the debtors owed 100 measures of wheat, or of oil, and at the end they owed 50. Or they owed 80, and then at the end they owed 40. They still owed something at the end, but their situation had improved. Who wouldn't feel some relief? In the "all or nothing" scenario, owing 50 or owing 100 is irrelevant: if you owe, you're doomed. But in real life it matters how much you owe, and Jesus' parable suggests to me that it matters, spiritually, as well. "You won't get out until you pay the last farthing" (Matt 5:26) -- don't you think that a God who numbers the hairs on your head also numbers the farthings you owe?
Another thing is this: whether you owe 50, or 100, or you have 2 talents or 5 talents, will the Master come and find you laboring at it? Or will you tell yourself that He delays, and give up? Wherever you are is where you are -- are you going to struggle forward, or quit? I think it's better if the Master finds you struggling on "that day", wherever you are on the scale of perfection.