You Can Be That New Creation

 

 

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

 

 

Although God’s Word says that you are a new creation, you won’t automatically begin to behave that way. When you are born again, your spirit is immediately renewed, but it will take some time for your mind, will and emotions to be transformed.

As a new Christian, I experienced much more defeat and discouragement than was necessary, because I did not understand how to receive the Word and apply it to my life. Once I did, I began to feel and act like the new creation I am.

Just like my experience as a new Christian, there are people who are saved, but have no clue that they are a new creation or how to live a Christian life. They receive Christ, and that is as far as it goes. For this reason, it is sad, but possible, for Christians to be in defeat and struggle spiritually throughout their lives.

These Christians try to be good and, in their own strength, change their old natures. They make mistakes, pick themselves up, and repeat the process over and over again. Regrettably, they sometimes experience long periods of discouragement. It doesn’t have to be that way. God has a good plan, and it is founded on His transforming power.

The Word says you are a new creation, but how does that work? Here’s how: The person you had been, before you took Jesus as your Saviour, is now called the old man. As the new creation, you receive a new life, with new choices and options, a new future —a new YOU. But what do you need to do to nurture the new creation so that it grows and flourishes? You need to renew your mind, change your conversation, and take responsibility for your choices.

Renew your mind

One of the most important ways we nurture the new creation is by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2). Renewing your mind is the process of filling it with God’s thoughts, replacing thought patterns of the old man.
Find a good Word-based church, sit down and just listen. You will learn a lot more when your mouth is closed, and your ears and heart are open.

Colossians 3:9-10 says you’ve put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new one with his renewed mind. A renewed mind simply means that you’ve changed your thoughts from your old way of thinking to God’s thoughts.

With God’s thoughts flowing through your mind, your actions will begin to follow the way He wants you to act. New thoughts change old actions. New thoughts will also change your conversation.

Change your conversation

Ephesians 4:22 says, “put off concerning the former conversation the old man” (KJV). Your conversation, or what you say and how you say it, is directly linked to renewing your mind. A renewed mind, filled with God’s thoughts and speaking God’s thoughts, is key to nurturing the new creation that you are. Don’t fill your conversation with tales of what your old man thought and did and said. It has been my experience that people who constantly talk about their pasts, never move into their futures. No new creature is complete without a willingness to take responsibility for him or herself.

Take responsibility

Ephesians 4 and 5 show areas over which YOU must take responsibility. YOU put on the new man by reading your Bible. YOU put away lying. YOU quit stealing. YOU speak faith-filled Words. It’s YOUR responsibility.

Realize as you choose to do these things, that God will help you. You won’t be living the Christian life through your own efforts but instead through the transformative power of God.

Will you choose to  renew your mind to God’s way of thinking (His Word)? The less you will act like that old man, you have His Word on it!  Now, that’s the choice-driven life!

Today’s Bible Reading: 

Leviticus 24-25; Hebrews 9; Psalm 81