2022 Lent Devotional – Day 33

The New Creation

So, whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

Whenever we introduce ourselves, we usually share the most significant details about our lives. We talk about who we are, where we come from, our associations and our identities. Similarly, for the apostle Paul, the identity of belonging to Christ was the central theme of His message to the early Christian communities. In his epistles, Paul often used the phrase “in Christ” and “in Him”.

Being “in Christ” offers us to foster and nurture a personal relationship with Christ, born out of love and not by force or compulsion. Christ desires nothing else but for us to be united and in communion with Him, transformed into His image and likeness as we learn to be rooted in Christ and in our new creation realities.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, the scripture says we become a new creation in Him. We begin to live in an altogether new reality, with new values, purposes, and dreams that are inspired by His Word and Spirit. The newness in Christ may not be complete at the time of our conversion. Nevertheless, through Christ, we can begin to experience and exercise the new creation realities as we journey in our faith-based life.

We participate in the new creation when we receive God’s forgiveness and therefore offer forgiveness to those who have wronged us. We participate in the new creation when we live each day for God’s purposes, serving him in every facet of life. We experience the new creation when we strive to treat all people with justice, and to care for the poor and the oppressed. We experience the new creation when we gather with God’s people for worship, service, and celebration.

In the verse (2 Corinthians 5:17), the apostle Paul says when God’s power and grace touch a human heart, a spectacular change happens. The former sinner becomes a new person on the inside.

In the beginning, all things were made through Christ, but the original creation became tainted with sin. But now– through Christ with His death on the cross–we can become restored or created anew.

As we go through the season of Lent, we would have realized that we are blessed with this wonderful opportunity to reflect on and celebrate God’s unfathomable love for us. We provide ourselves with time for prayer and solitude. We are encouraged to give up our comfort zone and practice self-discipline through fasting. Let these times of introspection reconcile us to God through a renewed commitment to faith that enables us to gird ourselves in the positional truth of a new creation reality in Christ. So that we can continue to be Christ’s ambassadors with a rejuvenated fervor.

Mr. Surender Pokhal