I love the quote:
"If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you."
I hope it makes you think. Nowadays it seems that as long as you go to church occasionally and try to live a relatively moral life, you're going to heaven! Unfortunately, I've never seen that in the Bible.
It does matter how we live. Our relationship with God is the most important thing. We can't just be good enough. We need to be holy, we need to be sanctified. Everything just keeps coming back to sanctification.
Sanctification: To make free from sin; to set apart as holy; to consecrate
So, if I am sanctified:
I will be set free from the power of sin, and walking in newness of life.
I will be set apart as holy, not conforming to this world.
I will be consecrated, not living for myself, but for God.
Living a sanctified life is living in a way that radiates God's power to everyone around you. People won't have to ask whether you're a Christian, they'll know!
Now I'm not saying you have to be perfect, always loving, always forgiving, never falling, never failing... no. Those things will happen because we are human and our natural inclination is to sin. But we don't have to be held by that. We need to be changing, not
perfectly, but
increasingly. Always moving upward and onward to a new and better relationship with God.
If your faith hasn't changed you
It hasn't saved you.