Therefore

“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 
- 2 Corinthians 5:16-19 NKJV

This morning, I was reading in 2 Corinthians 5 and came across today’s passage.

The part that sort of slapped me around this morning was in verse 17, where it says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

I had a pastor a number of years ago who used to always say,”If you come across a “therefore” in your reading, then need to ask yourself, ‘what’s it there for?’”

In this instance, the “therefore” leads into a very important thought/statement - “If anyone is in Christ...he is a new creation...”

It begins with faith, that is “being in Christ” - Believing He is who He said He is; He did what He said He would do - believing that He is the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah; born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, was buried, and then three days later resurrected... rose again. He lived and died and lived again so that we (you and me) might live... might one day live with Him in heaven.

Then the verse moves into what I tend to forget and even struggle with sometimes... if I am in Christ, if I believe and am saved, then I am a new creation.

A new creation... the old has passed, the new has come. That means that my old life and all the things that once pulled me away from Him, are now supposed to be in the past. Dead. Gone. Buried. 

Whether that was 30 years ago or yesterday...

However, it tends to be me (or the enemy, the devil) that brings the past back to mind to dwell on, to chew on, to remind me that “I am not worthy of redemption... how can someone as sinful as me be saved... be used by God... make a difference?”

And that’s where this great reminder comes in...Yes, I am a sinner... a sinner saved by grace... Yes, like most of us, I may have done things in the past that I am not proud of... but yesterday is gone, today has begun a new.

Sometimes we all have to be reminded... sometimes on a daily basis... that we are saved. That we are forgiven. That we are His. That we are a new creation, saved by grace... saved by the blood of Jesus.

It’s a new day. It’s a new dawn. I am a new creation. The old has passed. The new has come.

Keep the Faith... Carpe Diem