You can learn a great deal about life from the honesty of a toddler.  Abraham just turned two this Christmas and he really enjoyed opening presents.  He would begin ripping into them and tearing every last piece of paper off the box.  There was one present, however, that revealed a great deal to me about the human heart.  Abraham tore all the paper off the box, he threw off the lid, and it was clothes.  He quickly scrambled to find the lid, placed it back on the box, and piled the paper on top of the box, ending it all by saying “No.”  Abraham wanted gifts so long as they were fun, but the moment it became something that was essential to everyday life he was no longer interested.  This glimpse into a little boys heart illustrated for me the profound reality in most churches and at times in my own life.  We get so excited about the gift of the gospel provided in saving us from sin and securing a place for us in heaven, however, when it comes to the hope it provides for a changed life on earth, we are less excited.  We get excited when we read passages like Romans 6:5, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”(ESV) However, when we read passages like 6:12, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.”(ESV),  we tend to cringe.  We often love to hold onto our sin and our idols in this present life.  When we do this we are stuffing the gospel back in a box, putting the lid on, and throwing the paper on top,  saying, “No thanks God.”  There is no partial gospel.  You can not take it a piece at a time. You must embrace the gift of God as a whole.  It is the whole gospel or no gospel.  We must accept the whole gospel of God and yes, be forgiven of sins, and yes, have a new home prepared in heaven, but also have a newness of life on this earth.  Let it be said of us as it was of the Roman church, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,  and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.(Romans 6:17-18 ESV)”