New Identity - Part 3 (Conclusion)

To be in Christ is to be a new creation, a new living being — not just a person hopeful of changes that will someday take place.  To be in Christ is to be transformed by God Himself.

Not changed by an act of God, so much as by the very fact of God.  Not by an idea of God that we pick up along the way, but by the Presence and truth of God – the power of God at work in our very lives.

Remember Isaiah, in Isaiah 6?  He was changed by just seeing God, by the sudden realization of who and what God really is.  Seeing God filled Isaiah with awe and the realization of his own sinfulness.  And God’s grace then made Isaiah clean.

Yes, after being transformed inside we can still see our sins.  In fact, we never really begin to see the darkness and extent of our sins until God changes our hearts by His own Holy Spirit.  Just like the old song says, “”twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”  God’s Presence and grace in our lives — the working of His Holy Spirit within us — reveals to us all the things that are not like Him.  God’s Holy Spirit in believers makes us recognize sin for what it really is.

Religion itself is not enough.  We gotta have Jesus.

Learning about all the ideas that people may have about God does not change us.  Merely reciting creeds or slogans or arguing points of doctrine will not change us.  But to look up and see Jesus –- to look into His face and believe — that changes us forever.  Remaining with Him in obedient fellowship transforms us from the inside out.

Struggling with the “Wrong Pile” syndrome.

If we are God’s children, then our present day sins and stupid choices, our pettiness and failures and self-centeredness, all these things are not what we’re really about anymore.  They’re only the old rags of an old life (which was not really life at all, but darkness and death).  Those old ragged clothes are to be taken off and thrown away.  It’s silly to take a good bath to get clean and then put on all the old, dirty clothes you just took off.

But some of us are hoarders.  We try to keep our old & ragged clothing.  We keep throwing the old things into the wash pile, thinking that if we can clean them up some, they’ll be just fine.  But God invites us to toss the old man, the old lifestyle — all the old ragged clothing — into the burn pile instead of the wash pile.  He wants us to allow the wonderful new reality that’s inside to become visible on the outside, too.

If we really belong to Jesus, then our hearts and spirits have been changed, transformed, made new.  So why not let the whole world see us as we really are in Christ?  It only makes sense to let the real you shine through.  Don’t let old habits and behavior patterns confuse the people around you.  Make sure they can see who you really are in Christ Jesus.

But it’s also important for us to remember one thing: Even when we throw our old rags into the wrong pile, trying to clean them up instead of burning them, we do not change what God has done.  Our foolishness cannot stop or turn back what God has done inside our very being.

Learning the customs of a new land.

We must never forget that the clothes do not make us what we are.  The old habits that may linger for awhile do not make us the people we used to be.  We may still speak the language of the old country, or prepare and eat foods from a land across the sea, but we are citizens now of a new domain, the kingdom of God’s own dear Son.  The things that may linger are only the outer appearance.

If we know the Lord, then our spirit already lives today, safe in Jesus Christ.  Whoever trusts in Jesus, whoever knows Him is truly a new creation, a brand new, eternal creature of God.

So why not dress the part?

…giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.  He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  (Colossians 1:13-14)

May the Lord help each of us to take our stand against any practice, any habits, anything in our lives that still causes us to stumble.  We have Christ Jesus, our Savior, and God the Father who keeps us.  We have the Holy Spirit inside us, sealing us forever.  So let’s shake off the old stuff of the old life and take on all the new garments that God has richly provided.  Spiritually speaking, dressing the part will help us to live the part more fully.

Jim