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New Life In Christ
"Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump… (1Cor. 5:7)”
What constitutes the old? Is it the age of a thing or the behavior of a thing? Is it the outward or the inward? Is it other’s perception or your own? Who defines or determines it? What does it represent?
When the Bible, the Word of God speaks of the old it is in contrast to the new. We have the Old Covenant in contrast to the New Covenant; the Old Man in contrast to the New Man; Old wine in contrast to New Wine; Old bottles in contrast to new bottles. The Old becomes obsolete and gives way to the New. You put the new in the New.
There is a natural inclination to prefer the old, because the old seems to be better, there’s a resistance to change, or fear to try the New. That is until you begin to partake of the New. We are very familiar with the phrase, “those were the good ole days”. As a result many are locked in a time zone and refuse to advance forward. While not all new things or progress is good, there are some good things that are New and necessary for the people of God.
A major hinderance for many is the fact that they won’t let go of the old. As a result they cannot fully or partially appreciate the new. Jesus taught that you don’t put a new cloth/patch/garment on an old garment, lest the new pulls away from the old and makes the split/gap worse (see Mt. 9:16; Mk. 2:21; Lk. 5:36). It does not work. It only makes matters worse.
What matters now is that we rise up to the New level of life God has ordained for us, which is the Highest order of living for His sons and daughters. To try and blend the old with the New won’t work. To dress up the old with some of the New won’t work. To make an excuse to live in the old won’t work. The only thing that works is to live in the New because you are New – New creations in Christ. Our old life is likened to an old garment that doesn’t need repairing or do-over, but needs burial.
I have a choice (when I say I, you say you or me too), to live where and how God wants me to live, OR to ruin my New Life and future by allowing my old garment/old life to rule and dominate making my life more miserable and worse than it was before salvation.
Where I sit, I intend to stay! I intend to sit where God has made me to sit – in Heavenly Places in Christ; FAR ABOVE All principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and EVERY name that is named now and forever (Eph. 1:21; 2:6)! So, the old man can’t get me to this place, but can definitely keep me from this place. I then put away the old, so I can enjoy the New! And I wear the garments He has laid out for me to put on:
- Put on the Armor of Light – Rom. 13:12
- Put on the Lord Jesus Christ – Rom. 13:14
- Put on Incorruption – I Cor. 15:54 (Future)
- Put on Immortality – I Cor. 15:54 (Future)
- Put on the New Man – Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10
- Put on the Whole Armor of God – Eph. 6:11
- Put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering – Col. 3:12
- Put on Charity (Love) – Col. 3:14
“STEP INTO IT!”
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