New Creations

Sometimes you need to take a hard fall to realize you’ve gone down the wrong path.

Overwhelmed by life, I am tired and irritable. The littlest things with the kids set my teeth on edge. Tears well up and threaten to break through the dam I try so hard to keep standing. Yet it seems that no matter how hard I try, it’s not enough.

It’s been a few weeks since I identified my verse and word to describe my hopes for this new year.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

This verse and the word “quiet” is what my heart needs most this year. I need to rest in the presence of God. I need to be infused with His love and grace and know this grace at a deeper and deeper level. I need to weed out and purge those things which keep me from being still before Him.

I haven’t made it very far.

As I struggle my way through each day, I face many giants. I worry, get anxious and think I can’t make it through the day. I encounter stressful situations and then take it out on my kids. I get caught up in day-to-day life, trying to juggle all that comes my way. I so easily forget that the Lord is with me in these battles. I forget that it’s not in my own strength that I move forward in this journey to Life, but it’s in the strength of Jesus.

In a recent post, I wrote “Making lists, writing resolutions and creating objectives has no power to change us this year. Rather the power to change, no matter what kind of change we are looking for, comes from the grace of Jesus.”

I need that reminder.

As we begin a new year, looking ahead in our journey with Jesus, we can find that life often gets in the way of our intentions to grow and change. We may even take steps backward. But Paul reminds us that we already are new creations, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Instead of focusing on all we need to change in ourselves and how far we have to go, perhaps we should remember what has already been done.

When God looks at me, He sees me as already perfect. He no longer sees me as a sinner separated from Him. Rather, He sees the perfect life of Christ, lived for me.

Maybe what I really need to do this year is to be who I already am.

Every time I fail, every time I stumble into sin, every time I think I can’t go one step further, I must remember who I already am because of Christ. I am a beloved child of the King. I am a new creation. I am completely forgiven. And I am not who I once was.

Jesus has promised that He is making all things new. It is in His strength and through His grace that we are being changed and transformed. While we stand before God as perfect because of Christ’s work for us, we continue to struggle with the sin that still lingers in our hearts. The Lord is refining us and purging us from that sin, day by day and bit by bit, to prepare us for the day when all of creation will be made new and we will see Him face to face.

I forget that this Christian life is a marathon and not a sprint. It’s a long journey and much needs to be done to prepare for the day when I stand before Him.

When we think that nothing is happening and nothing is changing in our lives, Jesus is at work. Even now, Jesus is interceding for us to the Father. Our messed up attempts at prayer are translated by Jesus into words that the Father accepts as perfect. When we can’t even form words to the cries of our heart, the Holy Spirit speaks them for us.

As this year begins, let us not despair when we stumble. He will lift us up. Jesus is always at work in us and continually intercedes for us. Each time we fall, may we return to the Word and be reminded of just who we are–new creations and already perfect in the eyes of God.

So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! (from Romans 6 in the Message)

I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.” (from Revelation 21 in the Message)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NIV)