Listen to Nancy’s answer recorded live on Mornings with Kelli and Steve, on Moody radio.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
The word “therefore” where Paul says that we as believers no longer live for themselves but for the glory of God. The old self lived for themselves and was ruled by the flesh meaning the love of sin, performance, bad habits and self love and self justification. The flesh knows no boundaries. It is fueled by self promotion in most everything it does. These are the things that Jesus died for on the cross!
The old self identifies with the world. Those who become followers of Jesus get a new ID…our identity is in Christ! Our lives are no longer worldly; they are now spiritual.
God did not repair the old nature, he killed its power over us and gave us a new spirit, the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. God CREATED in us, without our help, into a new creation!
Along with the old passing away, “the new has come!” A new way to live, to love friends and family and even our enemies and those we have yet to meet. Our perspective of life is expectant in seeing God work daily in our lives. Life now has hope and a joy that it did not have before. Beauty surrounds us! The Bible becomes our source of truth and comfort! Our lives are being transformed to be more like Christ. We will never get there in this life, but we will grow in that direction (Ephesians 4:24).
The new life in us hates when we allow sin to have victory over a situation. Now, with our new nature, we have the power in us to turn from the yearnings of the flesh and turn to those things that are honoring to God.
Finally, with our new nature, we have a choice to sin or not sin. “Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4