PASTOR’S CORNER: Walking in the newness of life

A lot of us have heard the saying, “I looked at my hands and my hands looked new; I looked at my feet and they did too.” This signifies a major change in our lives — a change for the better, a complete about-face. That’s what happens when Jesus comes into our lives: everything changes for the better. Our whole outlook is transformed. It is the most wonderful, meaningful and life-changing experience anyone can have. To be called out of darkness and the grip of Satan into Jesus’ marvelous light, to be called a son or daughter of God Almighty, is the greatest life-changing experience the human heart can know.

To leave the old behind — a past that has been buried, never to rise again — and to walk in new life is to pass from death to life (John 5:24), from condemnation to eternal life. Paul said it like this: “Old things are passed away; all things have become brand new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). As somebody once said, “I’m headed in a new direction; don’t want to go the same old way.” Christians, we are called to walk differently from the world. We march to the beat of a different drum. We don’t talk, walk or act like the world; we belong to the family of God, and we don’t even speak the same language.

Community, in anything, when we discover something better, we leave the old. We leave the good for the best. What we are saying is that there has been a positive change in our lives. It means we are leaving some things — and sometimes even some people — behind, because what we were doing wasn’t working. It led to brokenness; it beat us down and left us in pieces.

Community, when in relationships with someone of the opposite sex, things are not working out — when that relationship stresses you out and becomes toxic, when you’re doing all the giving and getting nothing in return, when your partner becomes a stalker, driving by your house day and night, when they are controlling and want to know where you’ve been and who you’ve been with all the time, scrolling through your phone and checking your messages when you’ve given them no reason to be suspicious — it gets old real quick. Those who are wise will say, “It’s time to snip, snip this relationship and start out brand new. You go your way, and I’ll go mine!”

You can’t build a relationship without trust. In fact, relationships are built on trust. Without it, you have nothing. Some of you have even experienced this in the medical field, where for years you’ve not gotten any better. At some point, you realize you need to try somebody new. I pray that someone who is not saved — someone who knows you’re beating your head against the wall, doing the same things, hanging with the same people but getting nowhere — will hear me. Don’t settle for second best when God has more for you. When the world has beaten you down and the devil wants to destroy you, turn to the Savior who loves you and died for you. It’s time to go in another direction.

Christians, we are called to be different. There is nothing wrong with being different. Just because everybody else is doing something doesn’t make it right. We are called to stand apart — not to blend in with the world, but to live differently from it. We are not called to disconnect from people or refuse to deal with the world, but we are called to a lifestyle that reflects the light of Christ. We are light creatures, no longer creatures of the night. Not better than the world, but different!

This is the message the Apostle Paul is trying to get across to the church in Rome. Hear him speak through four verses in chapter 6 concerning baptism. First, he asks in verse 1: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Then he answers: “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Paul continues, “Don’t you know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:1-4).

Newness of life means, “I’m not the same person I used to be.” Satan wants to keep us in the dark, which is why many Christians are living beneath their privilege. Not only did Christ die for us, but we died with Him. When the Spirit baptized us into the body of Christ at salvation (1 Corinthians 12:13), we were buried with Him and raised to new life. Our identity changed. Whatever happened to Christ happened to us. When He died, we died. When He rose, we rose with Him. We are now seated with Him in the heavenly places. We may not be there physically, but positionally we are. Knowing this, how can we be the same? How can we walk the same?

Friends, we don’t owe the flesh anything. But we owe God everything. We’re not yet what we ought to be — but thank God we’re not what we used to be! Let us walk in the newness of life.