Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV): 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.
When a person is restored to relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus, it is a profound thing. It is not just a continuation of their old life with a new label. It is not merely a change of status or “legal standing” while the person is basically the same. Paul said it well in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV): Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! There is no pretending in God’s new creation, no merely calling an old thing by a new name. The person who crosses over from death to life, from darkness to light, is actually made into a genuinely new creation in a moment’s time. Their priorities change entirely due to a drastically different orientation of their life, and of the very core of their heart. All things are suddenly made new!
The new life also comes with a whole new set of assumptions. It is assumed that the new person’s life will immediately show profound changes in behavior and attitude. It also assumes that the newly created person will demonstrate a deep hunger and thirst for God’s word, for learning the ways of the kingdom, and for immediately putting every new thing they learn into immediate practice. It assumes that they will be so impacted by the changes in their own life that they will begin to share their experience with others.
It seems that many today have very small, very shrunken-up expectations of what the new birth will do in a person’s life. Many believe that saying a prayer is enough to ensure eternal life (even if there is no change evident after the prayer is said), and that once the prayer is said, little else needs to be done except maybe encourage the new “convert” to attend Sunday School and worship services. But Paul (echoing Jesus) understood that even if a seed is planted, if it is not watered and fertilized; if the weeds that are sure to spring up around it are not rooted out; if it does not receive adequate sunshine; the plant will at best be unfruitful, and it may perish altogether.
It is vital that the correct picture, the correct goal, be planted into the mind and heart of every brand new believer: a picture of newness of life that is theirs in Christ; a picture of a life lived constantly and intentionally in the kingdom of heaven, in God’s very presence; a goal of ever-increasing holiness ,of being transformed day-by-day into the very image of Jesus (Romans 8:28); and a picture of a life in them that has been created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Father, thank You for the new creation that characterizes our lives from the moment we first come to You. Thank You that that new creation is not for a privileged few, but for all of Your children. Thank You for the hope and future with You that all of this gives us. Amen.