Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, and the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
A new creation! Have we truly grasped this truth? This does not simply indicate reformed, reeducated, or rehabilitated. Although each of these are great signs of change, the spiritual expression of a new creation defines something much different. The fact of a new creation taught in the Scriptures represents the Holy Spirit making the person brand new on the inside. Completely new!
Let’s look at the above verse closely with three distinct observations. First, to be “in Christ” indicates being supernaturally joined to Jesus by faith. This is the work of God though His Spirit and through the truth of the Gospel message of Jesus. Second, the “old is gone,” expresses the joyous truth that the old things of sin and disobedience are eternally forgiven. Third, “the new has come,” teaches us that God has changed our status, and God has changed our life’s pursuit. These changes have come about and are daily being made more evident in our lives through the very presence of God’s Spirit living within us.
Do not become discouraged that often times we seem to fail in living out these changes. The Apostle expressed in Galatians 2:20 a simple formula for living daily under the challenge of godliness: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
- Crucified with Christ states the realty and the theology of our salvation: God looks at us and sees the sacrifice of His Son, and thus sees the righteousness of Jesus covering us.
- Christ lives in me expresses the reality of the Holy Spirit in us that empowers us, counsels us, teaches us, comforts us, and inspires us to live for the glory of Christ
- I live by faith in the Son of God represents the desire to honor Jesus in an ongoing and daily relationship of union and fellowship.
So today, as you prepare for a new year, take some time to reconsider life lived as a new creation. To live this way does not express an ideology of goodness and perfection, but rather a life that by faith lives according to the truth of all things made new. On your mark, get set . . . “all things new as you enter ’22.”
How has God made things new in your life and in your family? Take some time to reflect on “all things new” as you enter a new year.
Blessings.
READ
Today, read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 to rediscover the life of one who is a new creation.
