Redefining Life

2 Corinthians 4:17-5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

I have always enjoyed the old English Hymn “Amazing Grace”, because the very first lines of this beautiful Christian song by John Newton (1725-1807) spoke to the transforming power of Christ in the regenerated heart. The lyrics go: Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see. When I first started going to church, spiritual blindness was foreign to me because I didn’t even know what I was missing. That quickly changed as the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the truth when I accepted Christ as Savior & Lord. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

I came in thinking that I was a “pretty good” guy and just needed to clean up a few of the loose ends with a few changes to the way I was living to improve, but I was wrong. I didn’t understand that eternal life was neither earned nor deserved, but a free gift of God through His Son Jesus Christ. John 3:5-7 “Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'” The redefining of my life was not made by my efforts, outside of accepting the free gift of salvation, but completely by the renewing of my mind by God.

Romans 6:5-7 “If we have been united with Jesus like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” ” The old man was crucified, and though I was free to do what I wanted to do by the forgiveness of sin, my heart no longer wanted to sin. Lord Jesus was inside me and my desire was to please and serve Him ... never to grieve or dishonor Him again, though the carnal flesh tempted.

Ephesians 4:22-24 “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Righteousness and holiness becomes the desire of our heart as light is shined into the darkness of our former blind state toward sin and the disgrace of our earthly nature in the eyes of the Lord.

Colossians 3:4-10 “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” How embarrassing to have the pride of life to think that I was “good enough” without the Lord in my life. But it is God’s intent to open our eyes to our sinful and lost state before Christ, in order to provide the need and desire to ask for mercy & grace that is only given by the Creator of Heaven & Earth. We are pretty big on boasting and thinking highly of ourselves. We are good at doing things for ourselves and defining our lives, but when we take an honest look at ourselves, we realized that there is a God and it is not me. It is the Lord that transforms our hearts and redefines of lives; changing us from the inside out to become new people of God; The Child of God.

Galatians 6:14-16 “As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.”

In Christ, Brian