In Christ: Know It, Live It - 60 (How Change Begins and Continues - 3)

"...And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:24

Our old self, the person we were and the life we lived before Christ, was PUT OFF when we turned from our sin to trust in Christ. But there was not just a putting off, there was also, of necessity, a PUTTING ON - of a NEW SELF - created after GOD'S likeness. This "put on" is also an aorist, "put on once for all." We ARE NOT who we were anymore. We ARE new creations in Christ.

Conversion involves both the intentional putting off of the old and the putting on of the new, the turning away from sin and the turning to Christ. God's transforming power through the gospel and the Spirit makes this possible...and a permanent reality. If conversion is ONLY my choice, then my choice might change. I know how fickle I am...at my BEST moments. But when I understand that MY choice is the result of GOD'S choice of me from eternity past (Ephesians 1:4), I gain the confidence and ASSURANCE of a salvation, a putting off and putting on, that WILL NOT, CANNOT be reversed.

In other words, I am not just a new person because I CHOSE to be a new person. I am a new person PRIMARILY because God has transformed me by sovereign, divine power. I am not new when the toggle switch of my choice is YES towards Christ today, but am back to being the old me when I toggle back over to NO. God has given me a NEW switch in my will. My life as a whole is YES to Christ. Oh, there are certainly struggles with "no's", but not settled, direction-of-my-will-and- life no's. I have put off the old and put on the new.

Is this your mindset in life? Is this the gospel you heard and believed in? Has God really done what He promised in your life through the perfect life, sufficient death, and victorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you have turned to trust the mighty Christ as your Lord and Savior, then YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU WERE. YOU ARE A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST! That is the fact of your identity.

Understanding this and standing on this makes all the difference in your WALK. If you are trying to be someone that you don't believe you are...you will flounder and wilt in the face of temptation. But if you KNOW who you are, you are equipped to trust Christ in every circumstance to empower you to be that new creation, created in the image of God.