Someone Old, Somehow New

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

One of the greatest joys of parenting my tweenage and teenage daughters is seeing their lives change day by day, month by month, year by year as they learn to trust God. I have felt the pressure of their peers. I have heard the messages vying to capture their hearts. I have tasted the bitterness of their feeling awkward and different. I have seen two young women rise and walk in love and faith. They have lives that are being daily transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.

This morning's passage is 2 Corinthians 5. This chapter contains a verse that was at one time quite perplexing to me. I knew that according to 2 Corinthians 5:17, I had become a new creation when I became a Christian but up until a few years ago there was no appreciable change in my life. How could I be new if my habits and behaviors still seemed like they were old?

What I didn't notice for so many years was the word - therefore. This little preposition means that there must be a catalyst for that change. In fact, as I now read this chapter in its' entirety, I see two of them.

1. Faith (Verse 7) - Paul tells us that he lived by faith, not by sight. For so long, it was both logical and comfortable to me to operate out of that I could understand or observe. I now realize it's far more satisfying to walk according to that which I don't see but I know. Faith doesn't mean I follow blindly, it means I follow closely as I come to know the One who leads me intimately day by day.
2. Love (Verse 14) - As I fall more in love with Jesus, His love renovates me from the inside out. Love is a four letter word that makes a fourteen letter impact - transformation!

Faith and love are the kindling that ignites authentic change in my life. My relationship with God has to be rooted in love and defined by faith in order to experience the transformation that was so long lacking in my life.

Jesus, thank you for Your love that alters my very being. You want to be known by Your people because as we know You more, our faith grows. Thank you for promising that if I seek You today, I will find You. Today I will trust You to use love and faith to continue to fuel measurable alterations in my life.