Somebody reading this is tired: tired of trying to fix yourself, tired of turning over the same new leaf that keeps curling back up. Let me tell you what Jesus offers, and it is not self-improvement, child of God. It is a brand-new you.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV)
A new creature, not a repaired one
That word “new” does not mean renovated. It does not mean the old you with fresh paint. It means new in kind: something that did not exist before. God does not remodel the old man; He makes a new one. “A new creature”, and it happens the moment you are in Christ, not after years of white-knuckle effort.
Where the newness comes from, and how it shows
And where does this life come from? Not from you. “A new heart also will I give you… I will take away the stony heart” (Ezekiel 36:26): God’s hand. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5). It is Christ living in you: “I am crucified with Christ… nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). You must be “born again” (John 3:3): a birth, not a self-help program.
New inside first, then it works its way out
Now hear this, because it will keep you steady: the new birth is instant, but the new walk unfolds over time. Paul says we are buried with Him by baptism into death, “that… even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Baptism pictures it beautifully (death, burial, resurrection), but the new creation is God’s work by the Spirit, received by faith. Your circumstances may not change overnight; you already have. Old things are passed away. All things are become new. Live like the new creation you already are. Glory to God.
Related Teaching
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
Watch the teachingNew verse by verse studies go out every week on YouTube, King James Version, with the passage on the screen. Subscribe to The Prevailing Word of God, taught by John Kempf of Melbourne, Florida.