Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new.
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
Everyone who is
"in Christ," through faith
in His name, is a "new creation."
Yes, we have the same bodies, but they are mere tents in which we dwell. "For
we know that if our earthly house, this tent,
is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1). Some day, we will trade these temporal,
earthly tents for eternal heavenly ones. Meanwhile, though we live in the same
old tents we inherited in Adam, we are new tenants, a "new
creation." We may have the same old physical brain,
but we are learning to think an entirely new way.
And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what
is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We have the mind
of Christ.Christ
lives in us, and His Spirit also dwells in us. His Spirit takes the word of God
and unfolds the thinking of our Lord for us. As we embrace God's way of
thinking more and more, we are transformed to walk in the newness of life that
is ours in "in Christ." In
all the ways that matter before God, "old
things have passed away; behold, all
things have become new." The old
guilt is replaced by divine forgiveness. "There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. In Christ we realize our full redemption through His blood; we also
have total forgiveness of ALL our sin-nature according to the riches of God's
grace.
All our foolishness and
sinfulness are now replaced by God's wisdom and prudence.
"Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we
shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself,
just as He is pure." (1 John 3:2-3) Our unrighteousness
is replaced with the gift of righteousness, which is of God, by faith.
"For God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Our
futile hope of changing ourselves is replaced by the true
hope of sanctification. We can be confident of this very thing, that
God who has begun a good work in us will complete it until the day of
Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
O
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, I thank You for making me a new person in Christ.
Please strengthen my heart to spend time in Your word that I might hear more of
these grand truths. Lord, I yearn to walk in more of this rich newness of life,
in Jesus' name, Amen.
