You cannot know how you work if you do not know who you are. Like an airplane coughing and struggling for fuel because it’s doing a maneuver for which it’s not made, you’ll stall out.
If God has made you a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)—not an upgrade, but a new original—then what have you become? After new birth, who are you?
You're an actual son or an authentic daughter of God. You didn't just get the title, "Christian," you received a new DNA—you got the guts. Never again will you be only human. Yes, you've got humanity, but in a similar way that Jesus had humanity; something else most-truly defines who you are and where you're from.
Every son and daughter of God receives the genetic of their Father, becoming an actual son of His, with desires and attitudes in keeping with their new nature. Knowing Him and living with Him is now the way to life—real life.
Peter writes, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter1:3-4, italics mine).
That beautiful italicized phrase means that you and I have become actual partakers or sharers of the divine genetic. After your new birth in Christ, what delighted you was different, and what grieved you was unlike what saddened you before. You discovered new desires (I want to read the Bible!), new delights (I enjoy worshiping God!), and new sorrows (I so dislike sin!) because you had received a new nature with desires, delights, and sorrows to match.
You’ve been re-germinated! Participating with Him is the way to live—it’s the new normal.
Posts
This is so true! But it is a process. As a new christian, I was like a baby. I had to crawl before I walked.
ReplyDeleteI love it :)
Yes we had been the sun of sins/devil now we are the children of Goa, a new creation. Blessed is yours. Peerasak
ReplyDeleteI'm a new creation that has been modified
ReplyDeleteBible say I was dead. I do not know if it is correct to use the word "modified" Can any friend help me clarify? Peerasak
ReplyDeleteA point that is often overlooked in this passage is that part of what has passed away and and has become new, according to vs. 15-16 is how we view others in light of Christ's love and death for for everyone I encounter, even those that "bug" me or I have something against.
ReplyDeletePeerasak--If we think of ourselves as the new creation, Spirit-born sons of God we have become, then no, we are not modifications. But if you think of what's going on in your vessel on the whole, then there are some modifications going on, like learning to not sow to the flesh, but sow to the Spirit, etc. Because I am a new creation, with God now living inside, what comes out of me is increasingly like Him.
ReplyDeleteThanks now I know modification is to grow from glory to glory, to let Jesus manifest in our body, am I right?
ReplyDeletePeerasak--Great! Sowing to the Spirit means that He will produce in and through you whatever is perfect for every situation and need.
ReplyDeleteThat was great! Thanks, Betsy
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