“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:  The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corin. 5:17

 

If you have accepted Jesus’ death as payment for your wrongdoing, you are a new creation.  No longer are you a slave to evil desires.  You want to please God, because He has transformed you into a brand new person.

Before Christ, you lived according to the flesh as stated in Galatians 5:19-21, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  You were a vile beast that couldn’t be controlled and only thought of yourself.  You didn’t want to obey God and you didn’t have the power to do so.

Now with Christ, you desire to live in the Spirit:  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22, 23  You are a new creature.  You want to obey God and you have the freedom to pursue righteousness.

In ‘Beauty and the Beast’, a prince is turned into a beast to help teach him a lesson.  He has a temper and spends most of his days selfishly.  Over time, he is transformed by the love of Belle.  Just as the prince becomes a new person, we too are changed by an unconditional love.

Sometimes I forget how I once was and how much I’ve been changed.  I look closely at the minor mistakes I’ve made and the things I’ve done wrong.  It’s easy for me to ignore what I’m doing right, because I’m a perfectionist.  But perfection doesn’t exist for humans.  That’s precisely why God sent Jesus to die in place of us, because we can’t live according to God’s law in our own strength.  That’s where grace comes in.  Grace looks past the flaws and sees what someone can become.  I have to remember that when I’m thinking about myself.  I have to look through the eyes of grace as God does with me.  He doesn’t see me as an out of control beast anymore.  He sees me as royalty.  He sees me as a new creation.