As my wife and I dabble in house hunting, I have been intrigued by concept of a mortgage. When someone takes a mortgage out on a house, the buyer puts a certain percentage down on the house, say 10%, then the bank offers a loan for the remaining 90%, which is then paid off over the course of 15-30 years. Essentially, you own 10% of the house while the bank owns 90%. There is a sense in which the house is yours at closing, but there is another sense in which the house belongs to the bank. The house is not fully yours until the mortgage is paid off.

I think this is similar to the Christian life. There is a sense in which we belong fully to God upon turning from our sin and trusting in Jesus alone for our salvation. At that point, we received the Holy Spirit, who is “the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of [our bodies], to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14). However, there is still sin in our lives. There are parts of our mind, body, and soul that don’t yet belong to God. This is a great tension of the Christian life. Like the Israelites, we are in the wilderness, caught between slavery and the promised land. We are a purchased people (this is what it means to be redeemed), yet we have not attained a final redemption.

This is why Saint Paul could say that we have been adopted as God’s children (Rom 8:15) and at the same time we “wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship” (Rom 8:23). We are already adopted, yet there is an adoption to come. Let’s compare salvation to buying a house. When you received the Holy Spirit, let’s image 20% of your being was “purchased” and became aligned with God’s will for your life. That means 80% of your life is still “owned” by sin. The remainder of your life is then making “payments” so that God “owns” progressively more of you. The parts of you that were once “owned” by anger are transformed into patience. The parts that were “owned” by worry are transformed into trust. The parts that were “owned” by apathy are transformed into love and compassion.

Continuing with this analogy, what does it mean for Christians to “make payments?” God is the author and perfecter of our faith. I believe that we cannot add to his salvation or take away from it (there is no repo man coming to taking our salvation). Yet, there are things we do to experience more of God, such as bible study, prayer, fellowship, trust, and obedience (all of which is powered by the Holy Spirit). We read the bible to have our minds renewed with the truth and combat false narratives. We pray to ask God to move in this world and to transform us in the process. We connect with other believers to bear each others burdens, confess our sins, and sharpen one another. As we trust and follow God, we become more like Jesus. We become more like who he created us to be.

We will still struggle in this life. Some days sin will get the better of us. But God promises that there will be a day when Jesus will come back to purchase his people for good. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all [die], but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” (1 Corinthians 15:51-55). “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4)

If you are in Christ, your future is secure and it is glorious. There will be a day when we will be totally free with God forever. May that inspire us to take steps toward freedom in this life.