Goodbye, Old Life! Hello, New!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
You’re struggling with life. You’re overworked. Your family’s a mess. Perhaps, you’re struggling to take care of yourself, to eat right and exercise. Who has time to prepare a homecooked meal? Who has the energy to go to the gym?
Perhaps, your spiritual life is struggling, too. Now, the dots are starting to connect. Maybe you’ve already made this connection. “If I just get back into a healthy spiritual routine, then I’ll have the power/strength/energy to do it all.”
Wait a minute. Is that right? Have you connected the dots in the right order? In this line of thinking, faith becomes a supplement to living the old life. If you just need power/strength/energy to live the old life, you could work on your spiritual health…
…or you could drink a Red Bull.
Being in Christ means more than living the old life in a new way with newfound power, strength, or energy. Being in Christ means that the new creation has come. In Christ, you live a new life, a life you weren’t living before.
How exactly is this life new? It’s a life where you’ve been reconciled to God. Paul the Apostle writes,
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
2 Corinthians 5:18,19
The old life is at war with God. The new life is reconciled to God. The old life relies on the faltering self. The new life relies on the dependable God. The old life shares the world’s selfish attitude toward living. The new life shares Jesus’ selfless attitude.
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
2 Corinthians 5:14,15
(You may have noticed that all these verses are connected.)
Now, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to work anymore. But, if you are overworked, consider what factors are causing your exhaustion. Do you have a high-paying, high-responsibility job? Why do you stay in that job if it’s slowly killing you? Will your heart let you find a job with less pay but also less stress? A heart made new in Christ will trust in God to provide even on a lower salary.
Or maybe you’re working multiple jobs to make ends meet. You’re working 80-90 hours a week. Yes, there’s a lot outside your control. But consider what is under your control, leaving the rest to the God who controls all things.
Even in this new life, your family might still be a mess. Consider your role in the mess. Is there something you need to repent of? The person made new in Christ can ask for and give forgiveness because they have already been reconciled to God. This new person seeks to live in and out the grace they have received through Jesus.
The new life is more than just help for living the same old life. It is a whole new outlook on life, indeed a whole new life. Because God has reconciled you to himself in Christ, you are free to live life for him. You are empowered to live life for others because through Jesus you already have the full life from God forever. In Christ, you have a new life. Leave the old behind. Live the new to the full.