Jesus Makes All Things New: 12 Days Reflecting on Your New PathSmakprov

[IMAGE CONTENT] ### He Sees Me Already New... > This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person . The old life is gone; a new life has begun! > 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) The verse above discloses the wondrous truth that if anyone, yes anyone, belongs to Christ , they are already a new creation . A fact. A solid assurance. An eternal certainty. A launching pad to actually living a new way. Yet, here’s the rub. We still have stuff. We still have failures, falters, and downright frustrations and fiascos. We still have areas of life where we desire to walk in a new direction. Right? So, what is going on here? The Bible makes it clear we are new creations in Christ . God sees us clothed in His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). Yet, on this side of heaven, the Holy Spirit–with our cooperation–is working out His righteousness in our daily lives. This is what the religious-sounding word sanctification means (2 Tim. 2:21). Perhaps this simple illustration will be helpful… It’s as if our Father sees us as an exquisitely beautiful, intricate, and finished piece of needlework. This glorious, handcrafted art is the perfect portrait of the Son of His love, the Lord Jesus. However, the Holy Spirit is busily working on the backside of this masterpiece, where all the knots and loose ends are still hanging. It looks like a big, old, scrambled mess. These are the knots and loose ends in our lives consisting of old hurts, wounds, unhealthy habits and behaviors, generational junk, insecurities, and lies that we believe about ourselves and God. Yes, the Holy Spirit continually works throughout our years on those messy parts to become like the portrait itself. So, what if we still feel stuck? Maybe we’ve put off some old habits, hang-ups, or hurts, but in other areas, we can’t seem to shed old behaviors or thoughts that keep us in one place. Here, Jesus may be asking us to take a deep dive with Him to free up these areas through spiritual warfare prayer or the help of pastoral or Christian counseling. Really. So, let’s get honest with God and ourselves. Do we need some outside help? Because we all want to be that new person Jesus already says we are.