Therefore
if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all
these things are from God, who
reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us
the word of reconciliation.
(2 Corinthians 5:17-19, NASB)
We are new creatures in Christ. When we accept the gift of salvation through
His death, burial, and resurrection, we are completely different from whom we
were … or at least we should be.
I wrote yesterday that so many of us are still living our own selfish, fleshly
lives even after we claim to commit our lives to Christ.
I’m far from perfect. Believe me. But I really, truly strive to live
differently than the world does. I’m careful of the words that come out of my
mouth. I try to demonstrate God’s love to others. I stay focused on God and His will. I pray. I meditate on God’s word. I avoid those things that might cause
me to stumble.
I try—in my fleshly, frail way—to live as a new creature in Christ.
When I think of all my God did for me, I can’t do otherwise.
Trust me when I say, I have no right—none whatsoever—to judge anyone else. I
have a big old plank in my eye, so I cannot point out the sliver in the eye of my
brother or sister. However, it breaks my heart when I see others who profess to
be Christians speaking and acting and living no differently than those who don’t
claim to know Christ.
While God certainly can and does reach nonbelievers without us, we are called to be His light to a dark world. So how will they be attracted to Christ if they don’t see something
attractive in us? When they see us being hateful or vulgar or uncaring? When we whine and complain? When we disregard the "least of these"? (Matthew 25:31-46)
When we’re the same old creatures we were before ...
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