What does it mean to be new in Christ? This past week was really tough for me. I kept having reminders pop up about my “previous life.” The life that I thought I was dead to. I let it all come back up in my mind and I let parts of it resurface. I know that there is no way to combat this struggle without scripture. God led me to Romans chapter 6.
So it’s true that I am dead to sin and I should be living as though I am alive in Christ. I am a new person. This goes right along with what I had recently talked about with my associate Pastor, Jason. He was telling me about how the Bible instructs us to “put on” a new behavior in replacement of “putting off” an old one. Chapter 3 of Colossians instructs us how to put off the “old” self and put on the “new” self. (You have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9b-10). So many places in the Bible are so specific as to what should be put on in replacement of what needs to be removed. I need to “put to DEATH” all of the past sin that I was living in and never let it live again & put on things that are from God.
As for the terrible memories of my past, I know that Satan is bringing them up. He likes that he can use them against me. But the fact of the matter is that those sins are already forgiven. I have dealt with them with Jesus. I’ve cried to Him and prayed for Him to take them all away. And He did! So why do I still feel so awful sometimes? I think it is because I forget that I am wearing my “new” self. And because Satan tries hard to make me feel unworthy, and he can make me feel that way by bringing up things that I have done.
Here are some songs that I need to hear at times like this. They remind me of the price Jesus paid for my sins, the forgiveness that God gives me, the love he has for me and the newness that He gives me. (these are some lyrics that I really like & the videos are below).
REDEEMED– Big Daddy Weave
Seems like all I could see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son
Stop fighting a fight it's already been won"
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, now I'm not who I used to be
I am redeemed, I'm redeemed
YOU ARE MORE – Tenth Avenue North
There's a girl in the corner
With tear stains on her eyes
From the places she's wandered
And the shame she can't hide
She says, "How did I get here?
I'm not who I once was.
And I'm crippled by the fear
That I've fallen too far to love"
You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.
'Cause this is not about what you've done,
But what's been done for you.
This is not about where you've been,
But where your brokenness brings you to
BEAUTIFUL THINGS– Gungor
All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
You make me new, You are making me new
I am dead to sin. I am alive in Christ. I am redeemed. I am beautiful. I am new.
Thank you, Jesus!
