John N N Ng’ang’a Meditation of February 17th ,2025 salvation does not mean you now cannot be tempted to sin.
Day 1
1 Corinthians 1
2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
Let us look at the verse again. He is trying to talk about the church at Corinth and those who are there, that they are sanctified in Christ Jesus. What does it mean to be sanctified?
I have always tried to explain that when you tell someone that you are saved, they get the impression that you never sin, whereas you are referring to a ‘three-part word’ experience. You are saved because you are forgiven; theologians call that first part being ‘justified.’ All your sins have been justified. God knows that He cannot put you in hell for anything you have ever done because it is now justified.
In 1969, someone explained to my high school what justified means, and because he wanted us to understand the word, he put it this way: to be justified is to be made just-as-if-you-never-sinned. By the time you become a Christian, you are a rotten person, and you know it. Even if nobody else does, you know it. When you become a Christian, you come to God, and He justifies you; He makes you just as if you have never sinned. So, when you say that you are a Christian, and someone else says, "But I was with you last night in a sin," you can say, "But I have been justified this morning. I have been made just as if I have never sinned after I sought Christ’s help."
Day 2
1 John 1
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
The second step in full salvation is ‘Sanctification.’ On a daily basis, you must make the choice to be forgiven, just as you did when you said, "I am born again, I am receiving Jesus." That is a daily process; it has to happen every day, and we are waiting to go to heaven one day. So even after the guilt of past sin is dealt with, the devil continues to tempt you, but Christ’s grace keeps cleansing you as you allow Him.
The third aspect of salvation is ‘Glorification.’ One of the reasons why non-Christians misunderstand our claim to be saved yet see us living impure lives is because they do not understand the three aspects of salvation. They have the impression that because you are saved and have been a Christian for over 20 years, you are now in control. Every time they see a drunkard, they say, "Wait a minute, why would anyone drink like that? Even if I drank a little, I would control it," not realizing that the person began drinking because they wanted to, but now they do it because they must. Glorification refers to when we shall be free from sin, which is a future event.
For those who have ever smoked, you know what I am talking about. When you were in Form One, they came with the cigarettes, and you said, "Oh, take it away," and they said, "Show us you are not a girl, try it again." The first stage was a struggle, but they said, "You are a man, you must try." The second stage, you started taking it and feelling ‘smooth as embassy.’ All that happened is that you began to enjoy it, but then there is still stage three. All of a sudden, you discovered that even if you had not been sent money from home, you have to steal it to buy cigarettes because now you do not smoke because you want to, you smoke because you must. You begin with a struggle but finally cannot move out of it.
Day 3
1 John 1
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
So, when you look at someone struggling with sin, you might get the impression that you could never be like that. Someone once said that the best way to respond when you see a sinner is to say, "There go I, if it wasn’t for the grace of God." It does not matter who you are; one of the problems causing Christians to end up in immorality is the belief that it cannot happen to them. They think sex cannot control them. Again, maybe I am coming too close to you. The person I am describing might be reading this, but please allow me to use you as an example.
A married sister in the Lord was very keen on office evangelism and really wanted one of her bosses to come to know the Lord. She spent a lot of time with him, bought him lunch, and did all kinds of things to attract him to Christ. The greater the effort she made, the more the boss enjoyed it. He was enjoying the attention because his wife did not give him as much attention.
The lady expected him to resist, but it went on, with her sharing Christ and him listening but postponing a decision for Christ. One day, she went to his office over lunch hour. It was a private office. She went there to finally hammer the gospel home and leave him having said the sinner’s prayer. He was there looking like he was ready to give in at any moment.
He rose from his seat and commented on how well-dressed she was. According to the story, she herself went and locked the door so that she could speak to him seriously without interruption. As she started telling him about Christ, she got closer, even putting her hand on him for emphasis. Obviously, he did not resist. It was a carpeted office, and you can guess the rest of the story.
They were both married, and it became a public ridicule. When the story came out, the guy said, "It was not me. I did not believe it could happen. I have taken many Ndogo Ndogos out, but I did not believe that a saved one could bring herself to my carpeted office and lock the door. You ask her. She led herself right up to the position; I never did a single thing to get into the action. She was totally in control of everything until she pulled me onto the carpet." She ignored that as a woman, contact with a man could arouse her sexually. The devil used her zeal without wisdom.
Day 4
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Now, how does this happen, where you feel like you are already glorified, and you feel like nothing wrong could happen to you? You do not understand that being saved does not mean you cannot sin. You are forgiven, but you have to call on the help and power of the Lord on a daily basis. When you reach a time when you think you are OK, then trouble hits home.
Maybe I should look at a number of issues that would help us come out of this problem. Let us look at 1 Corinthians 5:9: "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy, or swindlers, or idolaters. In that case, you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater, or a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." The church had immoral people even then. I just want to talk about a number of steps that can help us keep off from immorality or other sins.
The first step is to recognize that although you are born again, you can fall into sin. Never get to a level where you think you have gone too far in the Lord to look back. Realize that it does not matter how many years you have been a Christian; it is possible to fall into sin.
Step number two, as we saw earlier, realize that because God loves you, He made you biologically right. I deal with young people, and I tell them, when you feel tempted by the opposite gender, there are two things you should do. First of all, be grateful to the Lord because that means you are biologically right. Then secondly, take off from the tempting situation. Also, avoid situations that can give you such trouble in the future.
I got saved pretty early, and when those kinds of things come, you wonder, am I backsliding? I tell people, do not think something is wrong with you. It is just the Lord reminding you that you are biologically right so you can avoid staying in tempting situations.
Day 5
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
So, the first thing is to be grateful. After knowing that you are biologically right, avoid tempting situations. Do not imagine that because you are called Pastor, you can lock yourself in with a woman, be close to her, touch her, and encourage her because you want to comfort her, and assume that nothing will happen just because you are called Pastor, or because you are married, or because you have been a Christian for a long time.
You need to understand that if you can actually do that, then you are certainly not biologically right, and we need to take you to a doctor. There is nothing wrong with getting tempted in a tempting situation, but what you do next is what shows you are a Christian.
Just the same way, those of you who have not had lunch yet, and you see those beautiful chips, and potatoes have been scarce of late, and you see those beautiful chips and you like chips, feeling hungry and wanting to go there is not wrong; it just shows that your digestion is right. There are people who are sick and do not feel hungry. Be grateful to God that you feel hungry. But the next step is, when you feel like you want chips and you do not have money in your pocket, move away. If you still take them, we might have to bail you out of the police station tomorrow. You need to understand that even if there is a desire to eat chips, you are not going to eat chips when you have no money to buy them.
So, you need to understand that you are biologically right. It can be that you are relating with a man who is very young, or a woman who is very young, or a man who is old, or a woman who is old. Do not worry; there is no time you are free from temptations in this life. There is always a possibility of sin, even if you are seventy-seven years old. There is always a possibility of sinning.
Day 6
1 Corinthians 15:33
33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”[a]
Step number three, you need to understand that the company you keep can give you trouble. That is what 1 Corinthians 5 is emphasizing. Paul is saying, do not associate with people who claim to be Christians but are living immoral lives. And he says, I am not saying that you should not associate with non-Christians because then you would have to come out of the world. Can you see how practical the word of God is? He is saying that if a person knows the word, knows who Jesus Christ is, but is still living a double life, then with such a person, do not even eat. Now obviously, eating means having real fellowship with them. You need to understand that walking with a person like that means you are in real fellowship. Do not be surprised when you yourself turn out to be like him. I am not saying that you should not help to counsel him, but it needs to be very clear as you go with him what your stand is on such matters.
That is one thing that shows how you find one guy behaving, and before you know it, he has spoiled the names of the entire company. Because your friends are within the church, you find that one guy gets a Ndogo Ndogo, the other also gets one, and the third gets a smaller one. Obviously, all of them are in the same business, and it means wrong association. The kind of people that you have to deal with must not be immoral.
Day 7
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.
When we were on campus, someone told us, and I still remember it: with Christians, you socialize; with non-Christians, you evangelize. Do not socialize with non-Christians. You must associate with all, but you must always ask yourself what you are doing—are you evangelizing or socializing? Once you discover that one of your brothers in the Lord is going the wrong way, from then on, he becomes a casualty for evangelism. Whenever you are with him, you know that you have to put the risk management gear on, and though you are not throwing him off, you know you have a ministry to carry out with him. Never let your guard down when you know you have a candidate requiring evangelization. Only let your guard down when you know how spiritual the person you live with is. If he lives in a similar way and walks in a similar way, you know how to relate.
You are a woman, but you keep the company of people who say that we must allow ourselves to understand that we are 21st-century Christians, and not like Bible-day Christians. So, you must be yourself. Some ask, what is wrong with taking men out? Obviously, you are not doing wrong, yet married? I have heard some women talk about that, saying that although you are married, you are not a 1st-century Christian like Paul was addressing. You are different, so in the evening, the husband arrives, and the woman arrives later, and he says, "Darling, where were you?" and she says, "I am also a person like you; you must allow me to have my freedom." And if your husband is saved, he might also allow you to have freedom, but who are you going out with? Okay, it may be a group with Christian women, but what sorts of discussions are you having? The more they play down the importance of marriage, you will be surprised when you find yourself one of these days, divorced just like them.
That is what Paul is saying, that is what is lowering the morality standards of the church. When you assume just because so-and-so is so spiritual, I can do what he can do with him, you will end up in trouble. And you are being told, watch out; if they claim to be Christians, then they become candidates for evangelism.
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