Newness


	One of the great thrills I experienced as a child was getting
something new. My family was not poor although we seemed to have
far less than most of the families around us. My mother worked
very hard, sometimes keeping three jobs at once, to make sure
her children had everything they needed. Birthdays and Christmas
time were more than just holidays to me, my brother and sister.
They were a time when we replaced our old clothes with new and
added to our meager toy collection. 

When a person is obedient to the word of God, certain things
that were old become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares this truth
by saying "…if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold all things are become new".  In
similar fashion, Colossians 3:9-10 tells us that Christians have
"put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new
man". It should be no secret to the world that there is a vast
difference (or at least should be) between the life of a
Christian and one that is not. When a child of the devil (John
8:44) a person lives to please themselves. As a child of God, a
person's focus is how they may please their heavenly father (1
Thessalonians 4:1; Galatians 1:10). 

The newness of a person begins the moment they become a
Christian. The old man was "crucified with him" (Romans 6:6) and
"we are buried with him by baptism into death" that "we also
should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). In other places in
the scriptures the Christian is said to "serve in newness of
spirit" (Romans 7:6), become "a new creature" (Galatians 6:15),
have "put on the new man" (Colossians 3:10), and have removed
"the old leaven that ye may be a new lump" (1 Corinthians 5:7).
Just as Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven
(doctrine) of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:12), so also must the
person desiring to become a Christian put away the leaven of the
world. 

Although Jesus clearly warns that few people will make it to
heaven (Matthew 7:14) that does not mean that no one will. Jesus
will be looking for those who have become new. There will be no
one still in the oldness of worldliness entering the gates of
heaven. If you no longer want to be in the world and desire the
newness of the Christian life, obedience to the will of God is
all it takes. Belief in the word of God, confession before men
that Jesus is Lord and Christ, and submitting to baptism for the
remission of sins is all it takes to become new.



In Christ, Steve Preston

 
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