I am a NEW CREATION

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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~

I took last week off from writing here, which I didn't mean to do, but allowed myself to get "busy" doing other things. 

Knowing that I would be writing about being a new creation in Christ this week, you can imagine my delight, and no surprise whatsoever, when our pastor mentioned that we would be parking in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, beginning with verse 17.

I can't speak for you, but sometimes I require a swift kick in the behind to remind me to keep moving.

From the outside looking in, one would think I was living in a pretty great world.  We had a nice home that my friends loved coming too (mostly because my mom can work miracles in the kitchen, so there was always plenty of food and tasty delights, as well as any kind of soda one could imagine).  I had one sister who was two years younger than me and parents who were still married.  I had a lot of friends and was involved in a few activities.  My dad had a great job with the same company he had interned with in college.  And my mom stayed home and made curtains (or drapes, I don't actually know the difference...sorry mom), along with pillows, bedspreads, and anything else one might want sewed for their home.

Life looked pretty good. 

But like anyone else, if you peel enough layers away, you begin to see a different story.

You would see a dad who worked insane hours, driving in crazy traffic to a stressful job that he no longer loved.  You would see him come home, stressed and anxious and weary.  You would see a mom who felt like there was so much more she could offer to the world, but she was tired and depleted.  You saw two girls who were completely different, but stuck in the same family.  You would see a lot of yelling and fighting and hurtful words.  You would see anger and sadness and tears.  

You would see brokenness and hopelessness and desperation.

We were a broken family trying to save face.  And we were exhausted.

This had been my life since I was in first grade.

For eleven years, this was how our family survived.

And one day, my dear friend looked at my sad eyes and said, "You need Jesus.  Come to church with me."

I had broken up with the boy I honestly thought I was going to marry and was trying to pull my grades up enough to get into the little college in Iowa that I had always wanted to attend.  I was so stressed out by my world that I was super sick with an undiagnosed respiratory illness.

I was broken and hopeless and desperate.

So I went.  To her church.  That didn't have hymnals.  And they raised their hands.  And the words to the songs were on an overhead.  In a middle school cafeteria.

And I became a new creation.

I wasn't just a fixed version of myself, but completely new. I felt completely new.

This weekend my pastor highlighted this concept of being a "new creation."

Steve said that "it's not about a better version of you, it's about you as something completely new."

He compared our old lives before Jesus to a caterpillar. The caterpillar has all of the DNA necessary to fly, but it is not activated until it goes through metamorphosis and becomes a butterfly. The caterpillar does not exit his chrysalis as a "better caterpillar" that can fly. Instead, it is a completely new creation - it is a butterfly. And this is the same with us after we meet Jesus. We are not just a "better us," but a completely new us.

Steve says, "When we are in Christ, we become NEW - what we were, we are NOT anymore!"

Paul says to the Corinthians, "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). 

This is how we become new, by being reconciled to God - to come back to God - to stop wandering - God is waiting for us - come home to the Father. I promise you, He is waiting with arms wide open to welcome you and make you new. He has made us new and with purpose.

When I walked out of that middle school cafeteria, I felt like a butterfly. Was my home any different? No. But I was new. I was different. I had come home to Jesus.

And Jesus said, "Behold, I am making all things new."

~Revelation 21:5~