In With The New
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
As another year has passed, we stand on the brink of one new. And just like at the beginning of every new year, there’s much talk about blank pages, resolutions, and goals. You’ve heard it, right? “New year, new you.” So what does that mean, and what does that actually look like? For many it’s about weight loss or a new fitness program. For others it’s about organizational goals, financial goals, or relational goals. But what if there was something more, something deeper? What if the new you this year was less about you and more about Christ in you?
C.S. Lewis writes, “Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good…Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked- the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself; my own will shall become yours.’”
“I will give you Myself.” Let that resonate deep within your soul.
God the Father sent Jesus Christ the Son to walk this earth in the flesh; to live a perfect live, die a perfect death, and conquer the power of sin and hell forever, thus securing a place for us in heaven should we choose to believe. After Jesus completed His mission here, He ascended back to the Father, but sent the Holy Spirit to live within us, to be with us always.
“I will give you Myself.” As we are in Christ, so He is in us.
Christ gave all – He gave every part of Himself. He withheld nothing when He took our place on that cross. If we choose to accept this sacrifice on our behalf, He requires that we, in turn, give all. Not just the parts that are easy or comfortable to give up, but all that we are. When we lay ourselves down and take up Christ, everything changes. Our perspectives change, our attitudes change, our hearts change, our minds change. We change. Life as we knew it will never be the same. The old has gone, the new has come. We belong to Jesus, and Jesus belongs to us. Our filthy rags are exchanged for robes of righteousness.
Boundless love, abundant treasures, endless grace. Just as in death He withheld nothing, so in life, He withholds nothing of Himself. When Christ, in all His fullness, invades our lives, our hearts, our minds, it only makes sense that His will would become our own. We will want what He wants because we are walking in step with His Spirit, because our hearts are beating in sync with the heart of the Father. Will this be an ongoing struggle? Absolutely! A sanctified heart is a life-long process. Putting off the old, the life lived in the flesh, is a daily handing over and laying down the natural self. Putting on the new, the life lived in the Spirit, is a daily choice, possible only because Jesus has given Himself. The old has gone, the new has come!
So the new year isn’t really about personal resolutions and goals. It’s about surrendering to the God of above and beyond, laying down your plans with a heart that says “Your will, Your way, always.” And it’s not about blank pages or stories yet to be written. It’s about trusting the One who has given Himself, the One who is in you, the One who has already authored the story – each of our stories – from beginning to end.
Want a new you this year? Lay yourself down and take up Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the One who makes all things new.
