Will being saved make a change in your life? Yesterday we covered some scriptural truth we have looked at before but from a different “side”. Some of this is repeats of parts of other messages and if you remember it, it is good review as it is preparation for a look at our freedom and changed life in Christ. “Therefore if anyone is IN CHRIST, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB) Claypool said that being in Christ is like “a fish is in the water and the water is in the fish or a bird is in the air while the air is also in the bird”. You are joined with Jesus and He is in you and you are in Him. It takes some time, work and practice. We are new and we need to learn to be what we are now – children of God (John 1:12); like William Sloan Coffin said, We have learned to soar through the air like birds, to swim through the seas like fish, to soar through space like comets. Now it is high time we learned to walk the earth as the children of our God. Being different doesn’t make you a Christian, but if you are saved, changes will come and you will be different than you were before you became a believer and came to be in Christ. The Christian life is not “behavior modification” or “self-improvement”! Being in Christ, you are a NEW CREATION, but what is a new creation? New means you are not recycled, not repaired, but brand new! You may temporarily reside in the same body, but INSIDE YOU ARE DIFFERENT. God doesn’t repair your heart, He gives a new one. He gave you a transplant, but not of a recycled heart, but a new heart that He created NEW! God doesn’t reform the flesh, He crucifies it. We DON’T TALK, ACT, or THINK THE SAME. God tells you about the sinful part of your old life to do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past.” (Isaiah 43:18 NASB) Too many Christians act like the old self is still in charge which is why we need to daily recon or consider ourselves to be dead to our sin nature and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Christians need to fly, not crawl around underground; they need to get about being the new creation they are. Are you flying or crawling? If you have learned to fly are you discipling others and helping them. You can only be like a bird and bring the babies worms for so long and then it is time for them to fly and learn to find food for themselves; the disciple needs to begin to disciple others too. Do you know that in Christ by the grace of God you are COMPLETELY FORGIVEN and ACCEPTED by God? You and I DO NOT have to PERFORM some works or keep a bunch of RULES. You have wings, so begin to fly! See where the love of God in and for you being lived out through you can take you! Let God guide, encourage and direct you toward making right choices. Operate out of your position of victory in Christ and allow Him to strengthen and empower you. It is by grace you were saved and it is by grace you are to live. When you do, you realize the results are up to Him. Your job is to obey – get up and do what He says, but if and how it all works out is GOD’S RESPONSIBILITY so you don’t have to worry about that. You no longer have to be concerned with how you PERFORM and be ANXIOUS that you are DOING ENOUGH or WELL ENOUGH. Get about BEING WHAT YOU ARE. David Platt said, “Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator...until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, No.” God says you ARE a new creation; Don’t say NO, but believe Him and get about being what you are and enjoy watching Him work in and through you. Walk in those works He has for you, but do it totally DEPENDANT ON HIM AND HIS POWER AND GUIDANCE!
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 12:00:01 +0000
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