N is for New

To see how the treatment advances, notice a curious item in Paul's testimony. He says he died with Christ and now he is no longer alive, but Christ in him. Since it seems to have cost Paul his life, we might question whether Christ's justification is genuinely free. But Paul was not purchasing justification, rather he was responding to the gift of it. And who could not respond to such a gift, provided she believes she truly has it? Although the product is free indeed, that is not the end of the matter. For if I buy a low-cost, high quality item from Sam Walton, then I can leave his store and forget about him. But when I receive justification from Jesus Christ, that is not a transaction I just walk away from.

Justification is a transaction less like a purchase and more like consummating a marriage, adopting a child or becoming a naturalized citizen. It establishes an on-going relationship. This relationship is not at all one between an eager-to-please retailer and a consumer armed with purchasing power. It is a relationship without such pressure. For God has put His pressure onto the cross and simply gives away the store: pardon, sanctification, the body and blood of Christ, and heaven itself: all free for the taking. And what purchasing power pressure would we bring against this-the absurd thought to seek elsewhere a better product or price or god? This grace from His side simply absorbs the absurdity of any pressure we might think to bring; for how can we be cunning against a God more willing to give than we are to receive?

This will illustrate this different relationship. Sam Walton "listened to his customers." God does, too. But Walton listens in order to respond in order to keep us as customers. His retail survival and wealth depend upon his listening. God encourages us to make our wants known to Him-actually He commands it-but not for His survival or wealth but rather for ours. When He asks for our input He is not currying favor. But in genuine benevolence He wants to build our faith in Him by our asking and His giving. Nor does even this faith profit Him; it profits us, for without faith we die and with it we live. So the relationship is nothing like customer-retailer, but pure benevolence from God.

So in this advanced stage of God's treatment for "consumerism of the spirit" the grace of Christ Jesus creates a new heart (except in those who disbelieve the grace in Christ, as if it were false advertising). Instead of threatening to take its worship elsewhere, this heart would not leave God even to save its own life. The Walmart manager knows "you don't change customers, you change the product." But the Triune God does change His customers, not getting better ones, but bettering the ones He has.