Welcome back, we’re still moving down the highway of life using the “alphabet of Christianity”. Today’s letter? N for NEW.
NEW! New or new and improved gets us excited. Advertisers know this. Even more enticing? Newer or newest – we can’t resist! But for all the hype, Ecclesiastes’s writer said, “There’s nothing new under the sun”. Yes, things are recycled, reinvented, refashioned, repackaged – but really new?
But there is an exception! NEW happens when something happens in us that’s never happened before – God’s life in us! Jesus said that new birth from above brings new life here below. Want new? Read John 3:1-6, 16-18. Choose Christ by faith as Savior, and God will choose to make you a new person from the inside out. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God….” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
What’s new about a person who becomes a Christian? God’s Word says, “…in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus…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.” (Ephesians 4:23,24)
What’s new? A NEW SELF… this is the universal experience of true conversion. What is conversion? By faith turning from self to Christ, exchanging your “old self” for the “new self” created by God. Result? Living NEW. New brings struggles between your “old self” and your “new self” – the evidence of progress. The new self manifests in victories over the old self. Day by day your “new man” rules as you grow into your new way of living. If you want new life – expect struggles. You and God will win!
What’s new? A NEW ATTITUDE… “be made new in the attitude of your mind.”
Everybody has attitude – it’s the way you feel, see, relate to and experience life. Your attitude generates eveything you are and do. God, Christ, the Holy Spirit are the fountainhead of our new self and attitude. Today and every day your life begins with either a Christ-centered attitude or a worldly, self-centered attitude. Which?
I have some new tips: 1) Ask yourself, “Am I new in Christ”? 2) Read and re-read Ephesians 4:17-32. 3) Go to a Christian Church on Sunday. Ask the Pastor about Jesus’ new birth, new self, new attitude way of living. 4) Feel free to Email me – I can share too – I’m a new man. I have been for many new years.
New, newer and newest do exist. But only a few are really new. I’ts a God experience all the way. Be one of those and start a new wave of reality in your world.
What’s the good news? NEW! Love in Christ, Chuck