"...If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things are new."  

2 Corinthians 5:17

Do you believe these words? How marvelous each word in this phrase becomes if you believe them.

If anyone needed a fresh start, it was Paul. In his arrogance he was so sure he was right as he pursued and persecuted "these Christians"...these followers of the false Messiah. In his zeal to eradicate these "enemies of God", he left no stone unturned in order to put an end to these "dangerous blasphemers". This heresy must be blotted out and if it took the execution of men, women and children, then so be it.

Can you imagine Paul's horror on the road to Damascus when he was confronted with the living Jesus?

When the realization hit him that he was the true "enemy of God" I'm sure he expected immediate retaliation, but instead he was offered a way to start over--a new life, a new direction, a new passion. All he had to do was believe and obey. Jesus pointed out at this new beginning that it involved both hardships and glory. Paul would receive constant buffeting from the evil one, but he would also enjoy fellowship with the very Son of God.

At some point in each of our lives we, too, have been confronted with the living Jesus and the horror that it was our sin-filled lives that made His awful sacrifice necessary. The realization that we deserved to go to a place of eternal damnation and retribution because we were enemies of Almighty God. Instead, like Paul, we were offered an invitation to start fresh if we would believe and follow Him with surrendered devotion--offered life eternal and a "love walk" with the Son of God.

The scriptures teach us that God has wiped out all of our sin (past, present, and future) with the blood of Jesus, and He remembers it no more. But it still haunts us some days and the accuser reminds us every chance he gets just where we came from and the unrighteousness that dogs us. Father sees the finished product, but we only see today. Sanctification seems to be a very slow process and sometimes we feel as if we are losing ground. At this place we need to remember and hold tight to the Truth...

"if anyone be in Christ, he (she) is a NEW creation..."

An opportunity to be "born again"--to start fresh and be covered in a righteousness not my own, but purchased for me by the Lover of my soul. I have this promise that if I soil this robe of righteousness, His blood has the power to remove the stain, if I will believe and hand it over to Him.

"Old things have passed away." If you will allow it, Paul provides a remedy for dealing with the past in Philippians 3:12-14:

"Not that I have now attained (this ideal) or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make it my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own (yet); but ONE THING I DO (it is my one aspiration); FORGETTING what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I PRESS ON toward the goal to win the (supreme and heavenly) prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.". (Amplified Bible)

Behold, all things are NEW!

                                        Behold!

                                                          See!

ALL THINGS ARE NEW!

His mercies are NEW every morning! He has put a NEW song in your heart! Embrace the NEW and be done with the OLD! It's a NEW covenant and a NEW day! BEHOLD and see this NEW LIFE He has set before you!

Recommended Reading
"Not A Fan"
Kyle Idleman

With love from my chair at the Harvest Table,

Shirley