SCRIPTURE: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
THOUGHT: It seems like the new year has me thinking a lot about how renewal happens. In a mysterious process, we lose almost a million skin cells every 24 hours – a whopping eight pounds of it a year – while our skin replenishes itself. On a much larger level, winter is a set up for spring, just like fall is for winter.
It’s as if creation and creatures are designed to renew. What a concept!
Where we humans struggle isn’t so much our skin, however, it’s the contours of our heart. Even people consumed with outer appearances have a heart problem more than a skin problem.
But Paul is saying that our faith begins a mysterious renewal process from the inside out. “Our inner self is being renewed day by day,” he tells the Corinthians (2 Cor. 4:16); “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” he says a chapter later in his letter, “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
This renewal isn’t something we can get our hands on, or pay for at the doctor’s office, but like other mysteries that require trust, we walk in faith. Something has happened down deep that has changed you and I – has changed our thoughts, our desires, our destiny.
I can see it when I back off from my own naturally self-critical self-talk. Hopefully those who’ve known me a long time can see it. I’m not who I used to be and as I press further and further into faith in a great, big Creator, his grave-conquering son, and the Spirit who gives life, my insides look and feel a little more like them.
Someday, the renewal process will be complete. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, I will be fully changed. The mortal will put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:53) and the change will be as visible on the outside as the inside. Until that day, I’ll keep my eyes on a God who proclaims, Behold, I am making all things new (Rev. 21:5).
SONG: From the Inside Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ke37l7lpBs
PRAYER: Oh God, my eyes are on you because it is you I want to imitate and become more like. Keep renewing me, day by day!
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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