Forsaking the old nature, embracing the new
II Corinthians 5:16-21
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The experience of the new birth that takes place in our lives through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of His resurrection
opens up a supernatural understanding of why we were created.The will of God is not hidden from the true believer that is looking to discover it.
The Bible says that God is light; therefore with His presence comes His light. If you study Genesis chapter two, you will see that first God formed Adam from the dust of the earth, and then He breathed life into him. That is a similar example of our existence as human beings. God has created us through birth, yet because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, we are the offspring of a fallen race. We exist, but because of our fallen nature, we are spiritually dead without the life of God in us. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, meaning spiritual death. We exist, but we are spiritually dead. But God has made provision for us through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. He purchased us with His own blood that He shed on the cross called Calvary. This is God’s plan called redemption. Doing something for us that we could not possibly have accomplished for ourselves. That is real love. He is simply waiting for your response to His offer of forgiveness and to fill you with His presence to empower you to live your life new in Him. This is what it means to be born again. It is an experience that requires the breath of God, breathing His life into your spirit. Now I realize that without God’s Holy Spirit power in my life, I did not have the ability to live as He desires, nor did I have the power.
If you have lived your life up to this point without knowing or understanding the will of God, their is still hope for you.
He is still that loving Father with open arms to welcome anyone who makes that decision to believe and receive the freedom that the newbirth accomplishes. This is a choice that no one else can make for you. It must be yours and yours alone.
God is full of patience, yet His word does say that He will not always strive with man. He will give you the most immediate response of strength when he sees that you have made a decision from your heart to forsake your old flesh desires and addictions to follow Him. Hardening your heart to the gospel of His love will set you up to further self-desruction as you continue giving your life to this world. God does not take pleasure in seeing you suffer through your own self-inflicted chaos. He takes who you are and creates you into the person that you really desire to be, when you give your heart to Him.
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The experience of the new birth that takes place in our lives through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of His resurrection
opens up a supernatural understanding of why we were created.The will of God is not hidden from the true believer that is looking to discover it.
The Bible says that God is light; therefore with His presence comes His light. If you study Genesis chapter two, you will see that first God formed Adam from the dust of the earth, and then He breathed life into him. That is a similar example of our existence as human beings. God has created us through birth, yet because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, we are the offspring of a fallen race. We exist, but because of our fallen nature, we are spiritually dead without the life of God in us. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, meaning spiritual death. We exist, but we are spiritually dead. But God has made provision for us through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. He purchased us with His own blood that He shed on the cross called Calvary. This is God’s plan called redemption. Doing something for us that we could not possibly have accomplished for ourselves. That is real love. He is simply waiting for your response to His offer of forgiveness and to fill you with His presence to empower you to live your life new in Him. This is what it means to be born again. It is an experience that requires the breath of God, breathing His life into your spirit. Now I realize that without God’s Holy Spirit power in my life, I did not have the ability to live as He desires, nor did I have the power.
If you have lived your life up to this point without knowing or understanding the will of God, their is still hope for you.
He is still that loving Father with open arms to welcome anyone who makes that decision to believe and receive the freedom that the newbirth accomplishes. This is a choice that no one else can make for you. It must be yours and yours alone.
God is full of patience, yet His word does say that He will not always strive with man. He will give you the most immediate response of strength when he sees that you have made a decision from your heart to forsake your old flesh desires and addictions to follow Him. Hardening your heart to the gospel of His love will set you up to further self-desruction as you continue giving your life to this world. God does not take pleasure in seeing you suffer through your own self-inflicted chaos. He takes who you are and creates you into the person that you really desire to be, when you give your heart to Him.
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