A New Creation
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come." Holman Christian Standard 2 Corinthians 5:17
I was telling someone today that I really kinda regret putting up a message on the blog about thorns because it seemed this week has been full of them. I am tempted if this trend continues to only talk about positive things. It is much easier to write than to live out dealing with thorns. It is much easier to sit and talk about how God is going to bring good out of bad than to actually experience some of it. If pain is God shouting then he has been screaming at me all week. With that in mind, I may have to be more careful about what I actual say on this blog.
Seriously though, I was thinking about how we are in process. As a chaplain friend use to say to me, that sanctification is both an event and a process. In one case, we are as saved as we are going to be. In God's eyes, the new creation has been fulfilled and the sins have been forgiven. But, in another real case, the battle continues daily with the old nature. It is dying, but it isn't going down without a bloody fight. I find that is the case with me and Paul said it was the case with him in the book of Romans. We are all a work in progress.
As I struggle with the daily battle of dealing with my frustrations and disappointments, God sees the finished product. He can because of the greatest of the cross and resurrection. The blood of the cross is adequate to wash away the sins I commit. In fact, at that moment before I took my first breath, God saw me and my problems and forgave me even when I had not yet taken a breath. He could do this because of his perfect foreknowledge. He could want to do that because of his unlimited love. That's really what it comes down to in the end, not how wonderful I am, but how wonderful and loving God is. Good to know we rest on a solid foundation!
Years ago, when I was a teenager, I went to a christian concert at a church in Houston. The singer, whose name I don't remember now, had an album titled "DaySpring". One of the songs on there has a line that says, "He's still working on me." I would also say that, but I would add, "He's got a lot left to do." As I sit here, I have been in church all my life and a practicing christian for 26 years. I have read the Bible cover to cover at least a dozen times or more. But, it isn't a matter of how much I have read it, but how much I live it. I am aware that I fail everyday. I am aware that if I was in God's shoes I would have given up on me a long time ago. But, because God's grace is greater than my sin I am forgiven though I am still stumbling along at an alarming rate.
I was telling someone today that I really kinda regret putting up a message on the blog about thorns because it seemed this week has been full of them. I am tempted if this trend continues to only talk about positive things. It is much easier to write than to live out dealing with thorns. It is much easier to sit and talk about how God is going to bring good out of bad than to actually experience some of it. If pain is God shouting then he has been screaming at me all week. With that in mind, I may have to be more careful about what I actual say on this blog.
Seriously though, I was thinking about how we are in process. As a chaplain friend use to say to me, that sanctification is both an event and a process. In one case, we are as saved as we are going to be. In God's eyes, the new creation has been fulfilled and the sins have been forgiven. But, in another real case, the battle continues daily with the old nature. It is dying, but it isn't going down without a bloody fight. I find that is the case with me and Paul said it was the case with him in the book of Romans. We are all a work in progress.
Years ago, when I was a teenager, I went to a christian concert at a church in Houston. The singer, whose name I don't remember now, had an album titled "DaySpring". One of the songs on there has a line that says, "He's still working on me." I would also say that, but I would add, "He's got a lot left to do." As I sit here, I have been in church all my life and a practicing christian for 26 years. I have read the Bible cover to cover at least a dozen times or more. But, it isn't a matter of how much I have read it, but how much I live it. I am aware that I fail everyday. I am aware that if I was in God's shoes I would have given up on me a long time ago. But, because God's grace is greater than my sin I am forgiven though I am still stumbling along at an alarming rate.
