Followers of Jesus can rightly be accused of hypocrisy if nothing changes in their lives after they start to believe in and follow him.

Your eternal standing with God isn’t based on how morally good you are, of course, or on your ability to meet Jesus’ high ethical standards; it’s based on your faith in Jesus.

But if that faith is genuine, you will start to live differently.

For some people the change might be fast. For others, it might be slower in coming. But come it will. As we are reminded in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT): “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

I’m not saying you’ll be perfect. (You won’t be.) But your pre-Jesus life will start to be different than your pro-Jesus life.

The reason I say all this is because true commitment to the King means true commitment to his Kingdom. In other words, if we are truly committed to King Jesus, then we will also be truly committed to the change he is working in our lives and in the wider world—to his will being done “on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

This is a kingdom where a desire for power gives way to humility, where hate gives way to love, where irreverence gives way to holiness, where selfishness gives way to serving, and where lies give way to truth.

Every once in a while we just need the reminder—a pep talk, so to speak. That day is today, and that pep talk is now.

We aren’t supposed to blend in. We are to be different for the King and his Kingdom. Our faith isn’t just “in our head.” It’s also in our hands and feet. And although our flaws are obvious and numerous, we have an inspiring and world-changing King who is worth serving.

True commitment to the King means true commitment to his Kingdom. 

By Matthew Ruttan

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.