Everything is new inside, the old has been thrown away.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Heard a story about a business man who was selling a warehouse and its property. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and there was trash everywhere. As he showed a prospective buyer the property, the business man took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage. "Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site."
That's the kind of change the Bible is talking about in us when we accept Christ as our Saviour. God doesn't want the old you or the old me...we belong to Him now ...we are His property ....He builds something brand new. The one that wrote that Scripture was for sure changed into a new creature. Apostle Paul, whose name was Saul before his conversion was the worst of persecutors. He had Christians arrested and killed. He was a Pharisee. He kept the law of Judaism...he upheld the Law of Moses.
When God came to this Earth in the form of Jesus, Paul along with many others saw a threat to their religion. So anything that was a threat was done away with. Paul was a religious man, well educated and a leader in the community. So what caused such a drastic change in his life? How did he go from being a murderer of Christians to one who wrote most of the New Testament?
How could there be such a change in anybody? Paul had an encounter with Jesus personally. Jesus appeared to Paul on a road going to a town called Damascus. When Jesus appeared to Paul, by as the Bible says a light from Heaven. It’s the same today when Jesus finds us...when Jesus revels Himself to us and we believe on Him and accept Him as our Saviour ...there is a change.
When we ask Christ to come into our life the Holy Spirit indwells us and starts to clean every area. So a change should be evident. Mankind could not overcome the world and sin. Adam and Eve found that out, they met Satan in their own strength and were conquered. God said “thou shalt surely die” Not only must mankind die in the flesh but, we were dead spiritually before Jesus. But the great news is that Jesus Christ came into this world and conquered Satan so that we could come alive spiritually again or born again.
1 Corinthians 15:57 the Bible says, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This means daily victory over temptations, anxieties and forgiveness of sin through Him. Salvation is the evident of Jesus living inside because we were spiritually dead …separated from God before He came into our life.
Several years ago when my sons and I were traveling and singing as The Millers, we played everything live as in guitars, bass, drums and piano. I ordered a new guitar. It was a Gibson Chet Atkins SST. I had an older model but, wanted a different color and my old one was beginning to show it age. I picked it up on a Saturday in Winston Salem. I must confess I prayed over that guitar on the way home that God would bless it and use it for His glory. We were in a church in Charlotte NC the next day and much to our surprise and hundreds of other folks the new guitar quit working. It was acoustic/electric so it doesn’t make much sound without plugging into a PA system. I did everything I knew to do but, it just didn’t work. Just so happen, the church group had a guitar I could use to get us through the service that day.
I took it back to the store I ordered it from and the technician ended up sending it back to Gibson Company. When I got it back, the Gibson Company sent me a note of apology and stated they had to replace all the inside electronics.
I always thought that God was showing an example of how we are without Him…we were dead before Jesus. But, when we ask Him into our life, we are asking Him to make us new, to make us as He intended for us to be….alive in Him!
Love in Christ Jesus, Ronnie Miller www.themillersbiblestudy.com
