Are you ready to embrace the new life?


The new life is not a myth, and it is not like going on a low-fat or low carbs diet. Neither is it like setting a New Year Resolution. If, anything, it is part spiritual and part physical. The spiritual — is completely out of the control of the flesh, but the physical–is like a ball in your court. Therefore, whatever we say and do will say a lot about the life we live.

Naturally, the heavenly father carved out a new life for us when He sent His Son to die. Sadly, though, none of us can embrace this new life until we get rid of the old life. In essence, the old life died with Christ, but many of us continue to hold on to its memories that we find it difficult to embrace the new life.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the apostle Paul hinted at the new life when he writes, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”.

Of course, Paul was speaking from experience. We have read about his dramatic conversion on the Damascus road. The Bible states that Paul then Saul was breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples. He even went to the high priest requesting authorization to go down to Damascus and bound anyone he finds spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, all that furor and hatred would change once Paul experienced the new life. (Read Acts 9:1-19, Acts 22:6-21, Acts 26:12-18).

Therefore, the apostle knew first hand that without the new life we are like the unruly Israelite who could not shake the memories of the meat they ate in Egypt and Lot’s wife who hung on to the memories of Sodom to her death. Still, if anyone doubted Paul’s thesis, then He need not look further than the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3:1-8.

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can do the signs you are doing, unless God is with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”.

“How can someone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to the flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

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7 comments

  1. Thanks Noel. “Getting rid of the old life” is something I have been working on and think I have finally found the answer. Will be doing a post on it tonight or tomorrow. This just confirmed everything to me. God Bless, SR

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  2. Very well written, Noel, and very meaningful. We really do become new creatures. In fact, it’s sometimes hard to recall what the old “us” was even like. Though we remain with some elusive thoughts of “it wasn’t a good experience.” We suddenly become grateful to God for the changes. At least it’s how it is with me – the old seems now to never have existed. Though we know it did.
    (just one little suggestion, Noel. you may want to change Lat’s wife to Lot’s wife). LOL! Couldn’t resist tugging at you for a moment. It really is an excellent post. may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob bless you and yours always.

    Your Brother in Christ;
    Michael

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    1. Hello Michael! Thanks so much for pointing out that typo. I truly appreciate it. Also, thanks and more thanks for your sincere encouragement and most importantly, your inspiration. I sincerely hope that one day soon you will compress that mountain of knowledge into a book.

      God blesses.

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  3. Noel… “THANK YOU! You are a God-send!” 😉

    The spiritual warfare in my life has never been greater than right now. It has certainly been a trial for me. I thought I had laid it all down, “you know”- that old self [and gladly] -no looking back ♪ no looking back! I really have no interest in returning to her and who & what she once was. I find it all rather distasteful. And when it leaves me, it really does leave me (this includes my thoughts & words as well these days). 😉

    This is where I digress…

    Honestly speaking, I’m suffering much loss of recent [“yes” even grief], for the witness [statement, testimony] I once held up to the world, where the one I make now is so lame in comparison; appearing so dull, unfruitful, or lacking.

    And humanly speaking, the only thing to my name is debt (unemployed to boot) & the two things I cherish most in this world, this side of Heaven, I must share with their father. So I cannot see where any of this could possibly glorify God. “I know”, raising children is a godly thing & that the Lord shall supply all my need… “I totally get that!” 🙂 …but gender roles & christianese speak are what all my neighboring “Christians” are feeding me & it is not much comfort for me here. “I do, I do” have & hold God’s Word, His Truth, He promised!

    [And other than what I am sharing now, I feel invisible to what matters most… HIM. Still in all, I have to give the Lord even this also. Surrender is surrender.]

    So, it appears to me today [THANK YOU AGAIN NOEL]—

    That when the past has reared its ugly head, the face was wearing camouflage & I couldn’t see myself in my own mirror. Is it possible that the enemy’s territory, was none other than my own? Wow, this really is a battle!

    Thanks for shedding the light on my current identity problem. I sincerely didn’t see it… I was too close! 😉

    God Bless you!
    ~ julie

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    1. Hello Julie! Thanks so much for stopping. To God be the glory. In the book of Philippians 4:13, Paul writes the following: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Over in Galatians 2:20 he exclaims, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

      Therefore, embracing the new life is the only way out for us.

      Thanks again God blesses.

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  4. Five questions that Baptists and Evangelicals should ask themselves

    1. Does the Bible state that a sinner is capable of choosing righteousness/choosing God?

    The Bible states that the sinner must believe and repent, but are these actions initiated and performed by man of his own intellectual abilities, or are faith, belief, and repentance a part of the entire “package” of salvation? Are faith, belief, and repentance part of the “free gift”? Does God give you faith, belief and repentance at the moment he “quickens” you, or does he require you to make a decision that you want them first, and only then does he give them to you?

    2. Is there any passage of Scripture that describes salvation in the Baptist/evangelical terms of: “Accept Christ into your heart”, “Make a decision for Christ”, “Pray to God and ask him to forgive you of your sins, come into your heart, and be your Lord and Savior (the Sinner’s Prayer)”. Is it possible that being “born again” is something that God does at a time of his choosing, and not something that man decides to do at a time of his choosing? Is man an active participant in his salvation in that he cooperates with God in a decision to believe, or is man a passive participant in his salvation; God does ALL the work?

    3. Is the Bible a static collection of words or do the Words of God have real power, real supernatural power? How does the Bible describe the Word? Is it the meaning of the Word that has power or do the words themselves have supernatural power to “quicken” the souls of sinners, creating faith, belief and repentance?

    4. Does preaching the Word save everyone who hears it or only the “predestined”, the “elect”, the “called”, the “appointed” will believe when they hear the Word?

    5. WHEN does the Bible, if read in its simple, plain, literal rendering, say that sins are forgiven and washed away?

    Gary
    Luther, Baptists, and Evangelicals

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