Each new year that comes is an opportunity to re-evaluate how we are living our lives. Many of us look to each new year as a fresh start, whether regarding our relationships, our health, or personal growth. While having goals and starting fresh can certainly be good, the truth is we cannot truly wipe away the previous year. A new year cannot bring a fresh start; only God can do that. You see, Scripture teaches that when he changes our lives and restores us, He restores to the point that we are brand new instead of “like new.”
Paul emphasized the truth that followers of Christ are new once Christ has changed their lives in 2 Corinthians 5. He tells us in this chapter that because of Christ and what He has done for us, everything changes when we place our faith in Him. After all, Christ came on earth to die so that we could die to sin and have eternal life in Him (verse 15). Several verses further Paul explained “this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person” (verse 17). Notice that Paul did not say that “anyone who is in Christ has become like a new person.” He said that anyone in Christ “has become a new person.” It is in the past, it has already happened. Paul continued, “The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (verse 17). This verse is a reminder that when we are new, our old selves no longer define us because they are no longer a part of us. We are new. We have new lives in Christ.
If you have placed your faith in Christ, the words in 2 Corinthians 5:17 are true of you as well. You are a new person. Your old life does not define you. You have a brand-new life in Christ that is characterized by life, freedom, hope, and peace. May you find this life, freedom, hope, peace, and so much more by leaning in to this truth today.
If you read yesterday’s Daily Devotion, you were challenged to make a list of what God says about you, pull out that list and add to it “I am new.” If you have not made the list, now is a great time to start. On a piece of paper, notecard, or the Notes app on your phone, write “I am new.” Keep this list and every time that you read something that God says about you in Scripture, add it to the list. My friend, if you have placed your faith in Jesus, you are new. You are not defined by your past, but instead by the truth that God has made you brand new.
"Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."
