New Creation – New Skills
2 Corinthians 5:17
Object Lesson: A Hacky Sack
2 Corinthians 5:17says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
The Bible tells us that when we accept Jesus as our Savior we become “a new creation.” What that means is that, when Jesus comes into our hearts, He changes us from the inside out. It also means that we begin to understand ourselves and our worlds differently.
Becoming a new creation can be a little hard to understand some times. It does not mean that I am totally changed. It doesn’t mean my hair goes from being brown to red or that I get a third arm or anything. It also does not mean that all the old things I used to do are automatically gone. It means that now I have a desire to love God and the ability to show him I love him in how I act. But sometimes, some of the things I do change a little at a time as I grow spiritually.
It’s sort of like this hacky sack I have here. I am going to give you each one in a few minutes too.
Let’s say I decided today that I wanted to learn to play hacky sack but I had never before played with one. Now, I am an old man and teaching my eyes and my feet to work together to bounce this and do tricks is really hard for me. It will take practice and time for me to see improvement in what I am doing.
At first I learn basic things but even that is hard. Maybe after a few days or weeks I can do more things but it will always require me to practice and be patient because I have never done things like this before. The secret, however, is for me to want to and keep practicing with the hacky sack. If I quit I will never be good at it.
Growing spiritually is like that. Our goal is to learn to live and love like Jesus does but that is new for me. I have to “practice” and keep learning if I am going to do that. How do I learn what Jesus is like? How do I learn how to be like Jesus? Going to church, read my Bible, praying, and spending time with other Christians helps me. Sadly, sometimes I am going to make some mistakes. When I do I can either tell God I am sorry and keep trying or just quit. If I quit, like with the hack sack, I will never grow and get better at it. But if I tell God I am sorry and I keep serving him I will soon begin to see my actions look like Jesus’ actions.
