Easter Makes Everything NewSample

Jesus Every Day

How real is Jesus to you?

When we live the old life, we say that Jesus is with us, but the presence of Jesus is really just a concept to us—a verse in the Bible. We talk with other people as if the Lord is nowhere near. We get nervous and afraid. We feel lonely. We are defeated by besetting sins.

But when the Holy Spirit is working in us, He makes Jesus so real to us that it changes every day of our lives. We don’t say things that we would ordinarily say, because we don’t want to say those things in front of Jesus. We stop feeling alone, because we know that Jesus is with us—we can talk to Him, and He talks back to us. We make good decisions, because we ask the Lord what He wants, and He shows us. We gain victory over sins that we could never overcome on our own.

Do you only know Jesus as the One who died on a cross for you two thousand years ago? Or does He share every day with you? Are you living the old life or the new?

If there’s an absence in our lives of the Holy Spirit making Jesus real to us, we can get into some very barren, shallow living. Oh, yes, we are Christians. We’re born again. Christ lives in us. But without the fullness of the Spirit of Jesus, we can really go to seed. But when we are continually being filled with the Spirit, the reality of Jesus goes to a whole new level.

Jesus curbs our tongues and keeps us from saying things that will hurt us or others because we’re conscious of His presence. Jesus cures our loneliness, because He is our best friend. Jesus is present with us every day—talking to us, helping us make decisions, tempering our lives.

One of the great cures for a besetting sin is to let the Holy Spirit make Jesus real to you. If you’re conscious that Jesus is with you, and you’re talking to Him all day, do you think pornography will have a strong pull on you? Or gossiping? Or telling lies? Or using profanity? Or talking inappropriately to your wife or husband? Are you going to do those things in front of Jesus? No.

We need to keep on being filled with the Spirit—not just take a little sip but have rivers of living water coming out of us. We’re meant to be overflowing.

Maybe this new-creation life is not what you learned growing up. Maybe you learned “Become a Christian, and join our church, and come on Sundays when you can.” That is not Christianity. Christianity is supernatural: the old is gone; the new has come. If anyone is in Christ Jesus, he or she is a new creation.

That’s the promise of Christianity—not just that your past sins are forgiven but that you have a new potential, a new beginning. Praise God.

Don’t settle for the old life. Come to Jesus. Keep on being filled with His Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus makes everything new.