2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
Isn't that a wonderful verse? We, as followers of Christ, are a new creation. Our old sinner self has passed away - died. What we have now is a new creation. One created in Christ - the perfect, unblemished One of God. Wow!
That being said, how many of us (and how often) still hold onto our old selves? How many times do we still act as though we are still part of the world? Still living half in the world and half in Christ. I, for one, have struggled with my "old" self all throughout my walk as a new creation. As an experienced backslider into the ways of the world, I have come to be sort of an expert in seeing the church, other Christians, still living in the world, when we are, in fact, called to be set apart from the world.
Take, for instance, sex outside of marriage. When you look at polling data, people who claim to be Christian are having sex outside of marriage at about the same rate as non-Christians. Christian youth tend to be as sexually active as non-Christian youth. The same holds true for divorce. (Although, if you look within the numbers it shows that people who consider themselves devout Christians and attend church at least once a week, that number is far lower. There's a lesson in there.)
It is important to always remember that we are called to be different, to set an example for the rest of the world. To be that light unto the world, not to be of the world. People should look to us as an example of Christ. We may be the only Jesus they see in a day. When we conduct our lives no different from the rest of the world, what kind of witness can we be.
In order to live our lives as the new creation promised, we must stay in the Word of God. That means meditating on the Word. Seek the Truth. In addition, we cannot neglect worshipping together and holding each other accountable (Hebrews 10:25, Galatians 6:2). There is strength in numbers.
In the next installment, we'll look further at living as the new creation promised in 2 Corinthians.
