Some Christians believe that when we put our faith in Jesus, all our sins are taken away, and we are completely pure and clean in God’s eyes. Others believe that once we have repented from our sins, they are forgiven by God, and are no longer part of us. They support this idea with passages such as Psalm 51:7:
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
But people who have bathed until they are squeaky clean get dirty again, and new white snow gets dirtier and dirtier as the days wear on.
These same Christians may get very discouraged when, after the excitement of converting and being baptized has passed, they return to their daily life and find themselves falling right back into some of the same evil desires and sinful actions they thought had been completely washed away by the waters of baptism.
The reality is that we faulty humans cannot be instantly transformed from devils of desire into angels of light. When we turn our life over to God, that is only the beginning of a long process of being reborn as a new and better person. That’s why Paul wrote:
Work on your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)
And the reality is that our faults, traditionally known as “sins,” are never completely gone from our character. Instead, they are gradually pushed more and more to the side of our psyche. If we persist in battling against them using the spiritual power God gives us, and keep on living a good and loving life, our faults move out to the edges of our peripheral vision where they are no longer an active part of our life.
Understanding how this works can help us to avoid discouragement when we turn out not to be as squeaky clean as we thought we were! And it can give us strength and resolve to face our daily battles, and gradually beat our spiritual enemies back.
Because it is an ongoing battle.
For more on pushing aside our faults, please click here to read on.
Is spanking biblical?
What is lacking in these New Age ideas is a clear understanding of Swedenborg’s concept of distinct levels and gradual levels (“discrete degrees” and “continuous degrees” in traditional Swedenborgianese). This is the subject of Part 3 of Divine Love and Wisdom (#
During the time my wife and I have been living in Soweto, Johannesburg, since we moved here from the United States in January of 2020, it has become clear to me how strong a role the ancestors play in African community and spiritual life. Funerals here are not perfunctory affairs as they often are in the U.S. They are ongoing cultural observances that extend over weeks, months, and even years, highlighted by specific ceremonies and rituals. Recently, I was honored to attend a traditional Xhosa ceremony in Eastern Cape that took place over two decades after the person remembered in the ceremony had passed on from this world.
Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life 