“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ … Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:6,11)
To be in Christ is the start of an incredible transformation – from the ugly image of Lucifer to the glorious likeness of the Son of God. To be in Christ is to be accepted in the sight of God, not on the basis of our goodness or beauty. God receives us not in our own name, and not through our own good works, but in the Name of Jesus and because of His redemptive work on the cross. We are forgiven of all our past wrong and shameful deeds for His Name sake. But salvation does not stop there. When we enter Christ, Christ also enters us, enabling us to do the will of the Father and bring forth good fruit which glorifies Him. We who were formally evil and ugly in God’s sight, now become good and beautiful in His sight. This goodness and beauty is ever-increasing as we abide in Christ and He abides in us.
Without Jesus Christ we stay children of the devil, bearing his ugly and evil image. There is no power to become a son of God until we receive Jesus Christ and transformation into His good and beautiful image begins. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12,13) The new birth is designed to produce a new man, created after the image and likeness of God. (Eph. 4:24) He that has begun a new life for us is able to perfect that new life in us. It is His doing for His glory and praise as we abide in Him.