NEW CREATION-part 2

Who are we really? Who does Christ tell us we are?
WE ARE NEW CREATIONS! WE ARE TRANSFORMED!!

2 Corinthians 5:16-19: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation."

Yesterday I wrote about who we are as New Creations. Here are three points about that creation.

1. This creation has nothing to do with what we have done or can do. It is all about what Christ has done.
The verse tells us, "All this is FROM God." It is a gift to us and we all need the complete gift. This idea was hard for me in High School and College. You see I suffered from good girl-itis. I was really really good. And what that convinced my fallen heart of was that I only needed a small dose of this new creation. That really my heart and life just needed some re-decorating, not a complete overhaul. What I have since learned is that I'm not as good as I thought I was, but more importantly I needed to be completely gutted and rebuilt, even the "good" parts. A totally new creation. I was a virgin when I got married, a good friend wasn't. We BOTH needed Christ virginity to save our souls. I struggle with pride and superiority, my friend Kim is one of the most humble people I know. We BOTH need Christ's humility to save us from damnation. Every part of us is going to be burned up in our glorification and only Christ will remain. That is why I cling to Christ and not my good works. Why being called a new creation is humbling and exciting.

2. This new creation is the person I was made to be before things broke.
The passage tells me that God "reconciled me to Himself through Christ." Reconciled is a word that implies God and I had previous dealings. We have history. He is the creator and I'm His creation, and in an offensively stupid move, I rebelled against my creator (following the example of my ancestors both near and far) and broke that relationship, which broke me. It is not just my rebellion that breaks me but also the rebellion of everyone around me. And the Lee that is here now is not the Lee that was intended back in the beginning. This point actually gets me really excited. The excitement starts in my stomach as an incredulous wonder..."can it be true?" As I get to know the Father, Son, Spirit God and read His Word all hope is confirmed. In the beginning, God envisioned and created this glorious woman, beautiful, wise and kind. Funny, creative, compassionate and challenging. But life broke her, and I broke her. I lived (still do) for myself and not for the one who created me. But my good Father would not let that be the end of my story, and when I came into a saving relationship with Christ, He gutted the fake, false Lee and restored the true creation of who I was meant to be. Praise to the One who raised me from the dead!

3. The creation is a completed work. It is finished!
We can't do to add to who we are. We can't do to take away from this creation. It is done, complete. And so our actions become less things that define us, and more things that reveal what we really think about ourselves and the gift of this creation. "THE OLD IS GONE." Sin is gone. It no longer defines who we are. It no longer holds power over us. It is gone. All of us still struggle with sin because this reality will only be fully recognized once we are with Him forever. But that doesn't make it less true. This is really true. We are really made completely new. It is who we are.

I am going to write tomorrow about how we can live up to this reality. And talk about some practical steps we can take to look more like the people we are. But for today I encourage you to bask in the beauty of this gift. To meditate on verses 14-18 of 2 Corinthians 5. You are new, fresh, whole, fixed. You may not feel like it. You may not act like it. But if you are walking with Christ that is who you are. Praise be to God who did it all.