New Things

We all like to get new things - new home, new car, new furniture, new clothes etc. However, these things eventually become old. There is no way they will stay new no matter how well we take care of them. They will eventually grow old.

If you are in Christ, you are a new thing or as Paul says "new creation". "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). I find such joy in this promise. I was 21 when I came to faith in Christ. I really was a picture of old things passing away and all things becoming new. I understood the "junk" that filled me and defined who I was. I came to understand that I am not filled with "junk" because I am a new creature in Christ. The old sin patterns that were so much a part of my life had been replaced by the newness I had in Christ. It felt so good to be brand new at 21 years old. You may have grown up always knowing the Lord but hopefully at some point you became aware of your sinfulness and newness in Christ.

The good news is that we continue to be brand new every day. Many times we don't feel that way, myself included. As the difficulties of life "ping" at us we don't feel like new creatures and many times do not behave like new creatures. God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18). Our trespasses have not been imputed to us but to Christ (2 Corinthians 5 19). He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). We need to realize every single morning when we wake up we are new creatures in Christ. We continue to have forgiveness for our sin by confessing our sin to Him (1 John 1: 9).

Unlike the new furniture or car we will always and forever be new creatures in Christ. Say to yourself right now "I am in Christ, therefore I am a new creation."