download mp3 audio track . . . or listen SoundCloud, youtubeOr spotify
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
New beginnings should be welcomed in our lives. Taking a turn and making a new beginning is an exciting, strong experience – and there is no more powerful new beginning than following the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Christ, our beginning is so deep and complete that we are called a “new creation.”
Having died with Christ in baptism, we walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4). And what does that mean? Paul described this in Colossians 3:1-17. we have new Target (v.1), new Idea (v.2), and new habits (vv.5-16). By accepting Christ as our Lord, we live under a new rights (v.17). And most importantly, the sins that have separated us from God have been forgiven, we live with a new life. Hope (vv.3,4).
At baptism, we commit to truly live as we have become: A new creation. Growing to maturity in Christ takes time. We can be encouraged by the fact that God will be patient. He will provide necessary assistance. But what will happen if we do not open our eyes and see requirements To change, we will be hindered.
Unfortunately, most of us fail to see how radical the surgery must be. We see ourselves as “good” people – we may stumble occasionally, but fundamentally, we think we’re living without any serious flaws. Yet nothing could be further from the truth (Matthew 3:7-9). We need to refine it a little more; We need to destroy and completely rebuild. There is only one word to describe what needs to be done: “reconstruction.” If we want to be worthy of being in God’s presence, we must be “rebuilt.”
But in Christ, what must be can do Happen. What God offers us is absolutely unique. There is nothing else like it in the world. So Peter appealed to his listeners in Jerusalem, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. So that we may come from the presence of the Lord in times of refreshment, And he may send for you the appointed Messiah, Jesus, who is to receive the heavens until he restores all the things about which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets” (Acts 3:19-21).
“In the natural world it is impossible to recreate it, but in the spiritual world it is exactly what Jesus Christ makes possible” (Oswald Chambers).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
