A NEW CREATION PART 2

2 Corinthians 5:17 (New Living Translation)

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Ok, This one has an (OF) rating. Old Fogies warning.

Yesterday I discussed being a new creation in Christ.

The old has gone and the new has come. I am a new creation being added to every day for God's Glory.

I really enjoy many of the new, and young Christian Rock bands. I am a rocker, at heart and like their edgy message to young people about life and about being a Christian.

This song talks about a new creation in a different way.

Relient K is a band I like to listen to and the message they have on what we are to be as a new creation in Christ.

I'm sorry for the person I became
I'm sorry that it took so long for me to change
I'm ready to make sure I never become that way again
Cause who I am hates who I've been
Who I am hates who I've been

If I am a new creation, I must hate who I've been. Not that I can change it, but it is a way of life and attitude I must change continually to be a new evolving creation in Christ.

Take some time to listen to who I want to be before Christ , EACH DAY, on the Adventure in Middle Grove

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmaXUlXU7RU


I watched the proverbial sunrise
Coming up over the Pacific and
You might think I'm losing my mind
But I will shy away from the specifics

Cause I don't want you to know where I am
Cause then you'll see my heart
In the saddest state it's ever been
This is no place to try and live my life

Stop right there
That's exactly where I lost it
See that line
Where I never should've crossed it
Stop right there
Where I never should've said that
It's the very moment that I wish that I could take back

I'm sorry for the person I became
I'm sorry that it took so long for me to change
I'm ready to make sure I never become that way again
Cause who I am hates who I've been
Who I am hates who I've been

I talk to absolutely no one
Couldn't keep to myself enough
And the things bottled inside
Have finally begun to create so much pressure
That I'd soon blow up and

I heard the reverberating footsteps
Sinking up to the beating of my heart
And I was positive that unless I got myself together
I would watch me fall apart

And I can't let that happen again
Cause then you'll see my heart
In the saddest state it's ever been
This is no place to try and live my life

Stop right there
That's exactly where I lost it
See that line
I never should've crossed it
Stop right there
I never should've said that
It's the very moment that I wish that I could take back

Stop right there
That's exactly where I lost it
See that line
Where I never should've crossed it
Stop right there
Where I never should've said that
It's the very moment that I wish that I could take back

I'm sorry for the person I became
I'm sorry that it took so long for me to change
I'm ready to make sure I never become that way again
Cause who I am hates who I've been
Who I am hates who I've been
Who I am hates who I've been
And who I am will take the second chance you gave me
Who I am hates who I've been
Cause who I've been only ever made me

I'm sorry for the person I became
So sorry that it took so long for me to change
I'm ready to make sure I never become that way again
Cause who I am hates who I've been
Who I am hates who I've been

More on the Masquerade Ball - BOOM and BANG

¹⁷ 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 (New Living Translation)

Yesterday, I could not get out of my mind the fallacies create in my mind in the past that kept me from a "true" relationship from God. I was/am a Christian.

The Christian life is a process that takes place our entire lives. It is not a one time "BOOM" and it is all over. It is the working out of our sinful nature with the Glorious gift God has given us.

His

LOVE

GRACE

and MERCY

There is a Bible word for this process.

It is sanctification



Sanctification is the same Greek word as holiness, “hagios,” meaning a separation. ( I am NO Greek Scholar so I had to look this one up!)




First, a once-for-all positional separation unto Christ at our salvation.





Second, a practical working out our position with God while we wait for the return of Christ.






Third, we will be changed into His perfect likeness—holy, sanctified, and completely separated from the presence of evil.



Paul had the "BOOM"experience while walking on the road.



He also had the BANG experience as he worked out his faith.




The BANG of realizing every day he could not do it on his own and how troubling this was for him.



The MESSAGE some times has the verse in a perfect way for the understanding of today's culture.



This is what Paul said in Romans.

Romans 7:14-20 (The Message)

^14-16I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

^17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

The BANG is the realization that our sanctification is not an easy process and there will be disappointments,failures and losses.

BUT

There will be joyous times when we are in step with God and his leading.

Neither is good or bad. Both situations are ordained by God for our expansion of wisdom of him and for softening our hearts so we will know him better.

So I will know him better, this day and forward

looking ahead

keeping my eyes on Christ

Following him while we walk together on the path on the Adventure in Middle Grove

An Inside Job

2 Corinthians 5:17


Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.

The Message

Sometimes "The Message"is a bit wordy but I like this translation.


We are new creations in Christ.

He Chose me

The old life is gone,

He Chose me

He settled the the whole battle between me and God

He Chose me

He asked me to forgive others as he forgave me

He Chose me

I started reading the book "The Gift of Being Yourself" by David Brenner. It is a short book with many nuggets of my life as a believer in Christ and how this is intertwined with my inner being and who I am. I cannot exist without God and my soul and my existence depends on my relationship with him. I want to explore this relationship and how I can be more in sync with God and what he wants to do for me and how I can rest in his arms as I learn to be more like him as I learn to be the person he wants me to be.

I rest in your arms today as I seek how I can be more like you and look to you for my existence and growth. Thank you for the work you have started in me and for the gift of your spirit as the Adventure in Middle Grove takes another fork in the road.