Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)
We celebrated our son’s birthday this weekend. Well, actually, we started the celebration a week ago with a party for his friends, then had the family party this weekend on his actual birthday. Yes, we like to spread out the occasion. 🙂
I think back to the first few hours and days of wondering if he would be OK (I’ll spare the details, but suffice it to say he had a rough start and was in NICU for several days). I look at him now and see a healthy, intelligent boy who loves Legos, Nerf, reading, and Star Wars. You would never know that he’s the same boy who came into this world in such a harrowing way. The difference is night and day.
It’s like when we love and follow Jesus. Paul teaches us in his second letter to the Corinthians that once we believe in Jesus and ask Him to be our Savior we become a new creation. The old junky stuff is wiped away and we have a fresh new beginning. What a relief to know that we don’t have to be weighed down by all our sins and bad choices through eternity! Jesus washes us clean and makes us a beautiful new person with Him in our hearts.
I’ve been thinking about that a lot during all our party preparations. The new creation Jesus helps us become is like a birthday of sorts and deserves its own recognition and celebration. What a wonderful gift! Won’t you join me in thanking Him for loving us and working in us each day to turn us into the beautiful creation He knows we can be?
