“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – 1 Corinthians 5:17
A new creation–that is an amazing promise. It doesn’t say if you are in Christ, God will fix a few things about you. Or if you are in Christ you will be a little bit better person. This isn’t like God doing some editing where he erases a bit and scribbles out some. And it isn’t like when I burn dinner so then I have to start over from scratch. In Christ we are made new, recreated, not what we once were.
This is a promise that is based on what Jesus did for us at the cross. When Jesus died on the cross as a punishment for your sin and mine, and when he rose from the dead to conquer sin and death, it was so powerful and so good and so complete that everyone who trusts in him is made into a new kind of person.
Yes, our sinful nature still wants to rebel against Jesus–you likely have felt that already today. But the power of that nature died with Jesus; it doesn’t rule us any longer. Yes, change seems to come more slowly than we want. But it is assured if we cling to Jesus. When we trust in Christ our life is shaped by Jesus–shaped like Jesus– and he lives in us through the Holy Spirit. This is what makes us new: his power and presence in us. That is amazing.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
