“NEW CREATION”

One day my daughter came to me and said, “Daddy, there is a new model of Apple phone; it is an iPhone 7 Plus. Oh, I wish you would get one for me!”

“You already have an iPhone; why do you want another one?” I asked.

“Mine is already old,” she explained. “I want a new one that has more applications and features.”

“Be satisfied with what you have,” I said. “Don’t always try to get new things.”

People today are continually craving new things—new phones, new homes, new cars, new clothes, new hairdos, new faces. We see so many “Home for Sale” signs, car-for-sale advertisements, and buy-one get-one-half-off sale promotions.

Plastic surgery practices abound because many people want a new face. They have plastic surgery to get new lips, new eyes or eyebrows, a new nose, or a new body.

But how satisfied will people really feel with all these new things? How much will they improve their well-being and sense of happiness? In time, all the new things will again be old, and more new things will be desired. It’s a never-ending cycle.

The reality is that gaining more and more material possessions will not result in a satisfying and fulfilling life. What we truly need today—especially as we are near the last day of 2018—is a NEW CREATION, a new heart, a new life. How do we accomplish that? Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (NKJV). Jesus is the answer. He is the One who can give us a new heart and a new life because He is our Creator, and only the One who created us can provide us with a new heart.

Ellen White wrote, “As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a NEW CREATION. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require. God himself is ‘the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.’ Romans 3:26. ”—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 162 (emphasis supplied).

I remember when my father baptized me. He told me, “Once you know Jesus and accept Him as your personal Savior through baptism, the Scripture says you take on a new life. The old life is over.” I found that statement to be true when I read John 3:3, which says, “Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again’ ” (NIV). So, when we were baptized or born again, God gave us a new life. It is not a remake or an improvement of the old life; instead, it is truly a BRAND-NEW LIFE. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (NIV).

The Bible reminds us that if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE, a NEW CREATION. This means that through Jesus Christ we are re-created and given a new life, a new heart, a new beginning, and a new hope. Therefore, don’t live in the past, but live with a renewed purpose-driven life. The old year of 2018 will soon be left behind; the new year of 2019 is fast approaching. Let’s renew our life’s commitment to put “GOD FIRST” in our lives.

Hiskia Missah
Editor

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