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Since we had a change in our being and became a new man once we were saved, we ought to have a new start, a new beginning, to live a new life. Consequently, there must be a clearance of our old living.
1) “You turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God” (1 Thes. 1:9).
This verse refers to the believers in Thessalonica. Once they believed in the Lord, they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. God is a jealous God; He will not tolerate one who serves Him to bow down and worship before any idol (Exo. 20:5). This is because there are demons hidden behind the idols. Therefore, after we believe in the Lord and turn to God, we must leave and forsake idols in every size and shape, whether they are carved or fashioned out of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, or stone. In the Old Testament, God demanded that His people smash and burn all idols (Deut. 7:5). We who belong to God should do the same, never preserving any idols in order to give them to others. This offends God and corrupts others. According to what is said in Deuteronomy 7:5, not only the idols themselves, but also all objects related to the idols must be smashed and burned.
1) “And a considerable number of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them before all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and was strong” (Acts 19:19-20).
These verses describe the new Ephesian believers, who originally were worshippers of a great goddess in Ephesus (Acts 19:27). After they believed and turned to God, they brought the evil books in their possession and burned them before all. This case makes clear that after we have believed in the Lord, we should discard all evil and unclean things which have to do with idolatry and wicked works, such as books on fortune-telling and the horoscope, objects with the images or seals of a dragon, and all types of gambling paraphernalia. Things with dragon images and seals ought to be discarded because the dragon is a symbol of the Devil, Satan (Rev. 12:9). Since we are people who belong to God, who worship and serve God, what we wear and what we display and store in our homes must not show any traces of these evil and unclean things. On the contrary, our wardrobe, our ornaments, and our home furnishings and decorations should show people that we believe in the Lord and love God.
1) “And Zaccheus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, the half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusations, I restore four times as much” (Luke 19:8).
These are the words of Zaccheus the tax collector to the Lord when he received Him, which demonstrate the overabounding power of the Lord’s salvation. He was a tax collector who extorted from others and a money-lover. A great change occurred in him when he received the Lord; he volunteered to give half of his possessions to the poor and to restore four times the unrighteous money he had extorted from others. These actions were not conditions for salvation nor were they the instant requirement and commandment of the Lord, but they were the extraordinary issue of the Lord’s dynamic salvation which came to Zaccheus. Based on this case of salvation, as soon as possible after we have believed in the Lord, we also ought to return any unrighteous gain to those whom we have wronged. Only then will we have a testimony before men and peace in our conscience. If we obtained the unrighteous gain in secret without others’ knowledge, including those whom we have defrauded, then we should exercise wisdom to make restitution and to return what we owe in secret to avoid causing problems and implicating others. We should only make our restitution known to those who have knowledge of our dark deeds.
According to the principle of making restitution, after we are saved, we should likewise exercise wisdom to deal with any immoral relationships with others. Only then are we worthy of being acknowledged as a sincere Christian.
