What’s New About New?

[2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV] 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

     I can still remember the elderly, limping, wheezing, smoke-belching, gutless, rickety pile of metal that passed for a car that my dad coaxed into life every morning back in the fifties.  That pile of junk struggled to carry us on short trips to the grocery store and barely made it to the top of the nearby Hualapai Mountains. The trips from Kingman to Flagstaff in that old heap were worse. We never knew when a new clank or thud would signal another crisis with the tired engine or worn-out parts in the car’s rear end.  My father carried a whole case of oil in the trunk, knowing he would have to stop every hundred miles to pour in another quart into that leaky engine.  On downhill slopes, we had the illusion that that old jalopy had some power, but the steep grades returned us to the reality that this poor old vehicle would soon not be able to take us where we wanted to go.  The day came when no repair could keep that junker alive.  We needed a new car!

   You and I are much like that poor old ’39 sedan in many ways.  No more band-aids or quick fixes will do.  We are worn out and need to be made new, renovated from top to bottom, inside and out.  Only the death of our old self and the resurrection of the life of Christ within us will make us new and, by faith, able to conquer the steep mountains awaiting us on our journey (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-5).

     The first step to this regeneration, this making us new, comes when we, by faith, choose to sink or swim with Christ.  Being “in Christ” means we lean all of ourselves on Jesus, our perfect High Priest. As we kneel at the foot of the cross, we can receive forgiveness, and an undeserved do-over from the only One qualified to rescue us (Hebrews 5:9; 1Peter 3:22). 

    The next step brings with it a radical change.  We receive a heart transplant from Dr. Holy Spirit, our Great Physician.  Instead of exchanging one sin for another or spraying ourselves with some kind of outward morality to try to kill the stench of death, we emerge from spiritual heart surgery as a totally new creation (Colossians 2:11). God doesn’t just pare away some sin here and some evil there, a misconception here, and a lie there.  He changes every atom of who we are!  But wait, there’s more!  God also declares us legally new because of what Jesus did to pay our sin-debt on the cross (Romans 4:7-8; 5:1; John 5:24; Colossians 2:14). He no longer treats us as our sins deserve but gives us grace and more grace (John 1:16; Romans 3:24; 5:20; 6:14).  In Christ, God has given us the character of His Son in exchange for our old, tired, defaulting-to-sin nature.  What a task, considering how hard and resistant we can be! 

     Over time, our understanding of God’s goodness to make such a trade grows.  Our “new” becomes newer!  Our developing understanding produces gratitude that energizes our new way of doing life.  Our hearts become softened, and the love of Jesus becomes our “master-passion,” as Spurgeon often preached. Instead of being complacent about our sin, we armor ourselves for war with it until wholeness and holiness become uppermost in our daily lives (Ephesians 6:11; Romans 13:12-14; Colossians 3:12-14).  People begin to sense a freshness, an energy, and the scent of clean, vibrant life about us, a life that grows sweeter and more robust over the years.  As we train to live out this new nature, we find ourselves thinking and acting, living and moving more and more as our Savior does. Because our life is flowing from Jesus, our Vine, we gradually will find ourselves no longer comfortable with our old, sin-driven life. (1 Corinthians 1:30; Galatians 3:27).  “Old” just doesn’t work any longer.

    When our old car finally died, my father finally scraped the finances to purchase a new-to-us, used car.  It didn’t burn oil!  It had a powerful engine, the best powerplant that Dodge Motors could make.  There were no holes in the upholstery and no dings and dents on its body.  Oh, the joy of that new car!  But over time, it also went the way of all vehicles, resting at last in the junkyard.  But we have a “new” from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that stays ever fresh, ever renewed, and eternal when we place ourselves in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:16; Colossians 3:10).  In this “new,” the hope, youth, life, and the strength of Christ’s spirit in us is being renewed constantly (Psalm 94:19:103:5; 110:3; Isaiah 57:10; Revelation 21:5). In Christ, ‘new” becomes newer every day!

Prayer:
Holy Spirit, teach me how to live new.  Amen.