What’s new? YOU are, if you are in Christ! In 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) we read, This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! Ask anyone who has been born again into a new life in Christ, and he will tell you that his old patterns of thinking and behavior changed into something completely new and different when Jesus entered the picture. The reason is because of a supernatural new thing that happens when we surrender our life to Christ. It is described in Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT): And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
Our heart changes. Cranky, old, angry, selfish, stubborn, mean, impure, nasty, perverse, wicked, evil (are you getting my drift, here?) sin-filled, ugly hearts become tender and responsive to the One who made them. The stony, stubborn heart suddenly—as the cleansing blood of Jesus washes over it—becomes responsive to God. The desire to sin diminishes; the desire to know and please God increases. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy (Ephesians 4:21-24 NLT).
Do you feel new today, or do you have old thought patterns and attitudes that make you feel stale, ineffective, and flat? Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. By taking one small step of faith, you can start the process of renewing your mind. Wrong patterns of thinking we develop over our lifetime are called strongholds. We are encouraged to tear down strongholds and destroy harmful thought patterns. In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NLT), we learn that We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
As we tear down strongholds of wrong thinking, the Lord moves into our thoughts and replaces them with His ideas and thoughts. Before too long, we notice that something that used to bother us, doesn’t anymore. A negative attitude we had about something disappears, and a new hopeful pattern of thought replaces it. Indeed, a new nature emerges! The glorious thing about this phenomenon is that the newness happens over and over again, and we begin to think more and more like Christ.
New person, new life, new heart, new spirit. THAT’S what’s new!
© 2020, Chris Werre