2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

In Christ, we’re to be brand new. Jesus isn’t something we add into our lives. He takes over our lives. We give up our lives for Him because He gave up His life for us.

We come to the cross as birthday-suit us. We have nothing to offer. We don’t bring anything with us. We allow Him to strip us of all our identities, possessions, past experiences, future dreams. It all becomes new in Christ.

We let Him take away anything that doesn’t belong in this new life. We surrender everything over to Him. We hold nothing else precious except Jesus Christ. We don’t cling to hobbies, activities, groups, traditions, anything. It’s all offered to God to transform as He pleases. He may take some things away. He may take some things and consecrate them, make them ready for His use, and then give them back. He may leave things as they are.

Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean just switching what we watch and listen to and where we spend Sunday mornings. It’s a total life transformation. It changes our thinking, our reactions, our relationships, our reason for why we get up in the morning and do the things we do.

He can redeem any past experience. We are no longer defined by such things. We take on a new identity. We become a Christian. Our identity is in the Body of Christ; we are one with Christ. Our past is made new in Christ. We trust His goodness and mercy to work new glory from each trouble.

If you are in Christ, you were called according to His purpose.

Ephesians 1:3-6  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

God knew your choice of Him. It’s called foreknowledge (Rom. 8:29). That’s how He had a plan for you in the works before you were born. He was and is always working things out for you. Now that you are in Christ, you seek to live in His will for you. We do that by obeying His Word and trusting Him to take care of the rest.

Romans 8:28-30 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Glorified. That’s past tense. That’s been made glorious. That’s the life of Christ. That’s the life in you that you can be living now, because eternal life is something we already have and which will continue on for eternity.

Lesson Point: We are new creations in Christ Jesus.

Challenge Question: Is there anything of your own life that you are still clinging to? Are you able to say to God “take it all?” Are you able to say to God that you’ll do whatever He asks? What things have you saying, “But not…” Pray and work to give each of those things up and over to God. Trust His good plan that He’s been working since before the beginning!