Devotion 5 - New Creations
Devotion 5 – New Creations
Through our union with Adam, we are all born sinners
and thus, we behave like serial sinners, sinning every day in thought, word,
deed and motive. The good news of the
gospel is that through our union in Christ, we are justified become children of
God. However, truth be told, many of God’s children still struggle as serial
sinners daily. How do we live in our new identity and have victory over sin?
A New Heart & A New
Spirit
This promise was given to us some 600 years before the death of Christ.
And God has promised to radically change our hearts and put His Holy Spirit
within us to enable us to obey Him.
For that reason, Paul says “if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come
(2 Cor.5:17). That means our old identity in Adam is gone forever,
and is no longer true of us. We now have a new identity in Christ. We have a brand-new
relationship with God the Father through Christ.
New Identity, New Life
In Adam, we were under both the guilt of sin and
the dominion of sin. But now, through our union with Christ, we have died to
both the guilt of sin and its dominion over us. We are now able to obey God and
please God. Our old Identity in Adam is gone, together with its bondage to the
reign of sin.
Our new identity in Christ now defines who we are.
Through our union with Christ, the basic disposition of our heart has been
changed. God has taken away our stony hearts and given us hearts that are
spiritually alive and responsive to Him.
Rom.6:11 – “Likewise you also, reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body,
that you should obey it in its lusts.”
To
‘reckon’ is to think carefully, especially regarding our action. We should not
let sin continue to reign in us; but instead, our new identity is to reign in
us. We must be constantly conscious of this truth and to let it affect our
daily decisions, behaviour and actions. We are now the branches on the vine
(which is Christ), and thus partake of the spiritual and vitality that is in
Him.
Guerrilla Warfare
Gal.5:17 – “For the flesh lusts against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one
another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
Unfortunately,
though we have been delivered from the absolute bondage to sin, we have not
been totally freed from its influence. We are now still in spiritual guerrilla
warfare, and how we glorify God depends on how we engage this warfare.
We have an enemy that does not stop
opposing us. Through we are freed from sin’s dominion, sin still desires to
destroy us. So, we must always be vigilant against its assaults and put to
death the expressions of sin in our bodies and minds through the power of the
Holy Spirit within us. Only in eternity can we be absolutely free from sin. For
now, we just have to live out our new identity and fight the warfare daily.
Grace, Grace, Grace
Regrettably, many of us do not live out
our identity in Christ. From the scripture, we learn that the flesh continues
to strive against the Spirit, and unfortunately, many lose this battle daily,
especially for those struggling with persistent sin. What shall we do then? Do not feel ashamed, exhausted and lose
patience. Instead, we should take our
sin to the cross and remember the Grace of God through our union with Christ. Maintain the attitude of repentance and
contrition, knowing and believing that there is no sin that is beyond the
cleansing power of the blood of Christ.
We cannot have power to resist sin if we
have not first dealt with its guilt. And the only way to do this is to
continually go back to the cross and see Jesus bearing that sin and paying its
penalty through His death.
Often, it seems that the old person in
Adam is still very much alive, but that is not our true identity. It is the
flesh striving against the Spirit. Our true identity is in Christ. Through the
grace of God in our lives, we can all grow and progress in becoming the new
creations in our daily experiences as well as in our identity.
Taking our lives Seriously with God
2 Cor.13:5 – “Examine yourselves as
to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you are disqualified.”
We are called to examine our faith and
test ourselves. Here are some questions to help examine our walk with God:
- What is our attitude toward sin? Are we
concerned or indifferent about it?
- What is our attitude toward God? Are we dependent
on Him and acknowledge our accountability to Him?
- What is our attitude toward the
Scripture? Are we intentionally growing in our understanding and application of
it in our life?
The important question is. “Do we have
evidence of our identity in Christ?”. We might still struggle with sin and even
experience frequent failures, but can we truthfully say that we are heading
towards the right direction? Privilege always comes with responsibility! With the
privilege of our new identity in Christ, we are responsible to not let sin
continue to reign in our thought and behaviour.
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