THE BENCHMARK IS BEING IN CHRIST

TO THE BIBLE: 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

LET’S TALK

2 Corinthians 5:17 is God’s sovereign declaration and revelation of the new person in Christ. Let’s look at this verse a little more closely. First, it says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ….” “Anyone” means any person at all, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done. The moment you’re in Christ, in God’s mind, you’re a new creation without a past. Notice it doesn’t say, “he will be a new creation”; instead, it says, “…he is a new creation….” This isn’t a promise; it’s a statement of fact, a present-hour reality. If you’re in Christ, you’re a new creation NOW!

You’re not a reworked, renewed, or refurbished creation; you were born afresh, without a past! You’ve been baptised into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13). It doesn’t matter whether or not you feel so; that’s God’s sovereign declaration of you, because you’re a new creation in Christ.

Your spirit, through faith in Christ Jesus, has been recreated, and you’re now the righteousness of God in Him. Therefore, you can declare boldly that you’re the righteousness of God. You’ve got the same life and nature with God now! And that nature has produced in you the rightness of God–the ability to do right and be right, and fulfill the Father’s will. In 1 John 4:17, the Bible says, “…as He is, so are we in this world”; you’re already like Him today, because He’s in you and you’re in Him.

Go Deeper

Romans 6:4; Galatians 3:27-29

Speak

I’m a new creation in Christ: old things are passed away, and all things have become new. I’m what God says I am, I have what God says I have, and as Jesus is, so am I in this world! Glory to God!

Daily Bible Reading

ONE YEAR

John 4:27-54, 1 Kings 2-3

TWO YEAR

Mark 9:2-13, Numbers 12

Act

Listen and meditate on the message titled, “How To Have A Great Day.”