September 8 – A New Everything

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

In Christ Jesus each believer becomes a new creation and a child of God. We are more than friends of God for through adopted we are children of God. In Christ we become fellow heirs and fellow member of the body of believers. (Ephesians 3:6)  The two words ‘in Christ’, cover a brief but very profound statement of the immeasurable significance ⸺ that of the believer’s redemption. For this, the believer is accepted in Him (Christ) with whom God alone is well pleased. As believers our future assurance is in Him who is the resurrection to eternal life and the sole guarantor of our inheritance in heaven. As believers in Christ, we are granted participation in the divine nature of Christ, the everlasting Word (2 Peter 1:4). We are not divine but Christ is and in us shares His divine nature with us. We have been made new through new birth spiritually. We can with the help of Christ in us be done with the old ways of doing things and embrace our new spiritual perception. The powerful truth is that in Christ we now live for what is eternal and not the temporal things. 

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2 Corinthians, new, passed, come,

February 7 – New Creation Within

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” -  2 Corinthians 5:17.” (ESV)

It is all the non-believers in the world who should convince us who believe in God Almighty that we have a different spirit than we had before we believed; for by God’s grace and because of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, we became Christians. As we read in John 3:6 where Jesus explained to his night-time visitor, Nikodemus “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  A true believer can soon tell whether he is born of the Spirit by the change in his life. Just as we considered a few days ago, our new spiritual birth brings to us new love. Our love results in joyfulness. Joyfulness fills our heart and we have peace. Our peace is present in establishing our patience. Patiently we offer kindness to all. Kindness develops into goodness. We advance in faithfulness because of the goodness. We learn self-control from faithfully trusting.  None of this fruit happens if we do not first receive a new-spirit from God who has given us a new creation and done away with the old. What blessed promises.   

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