New Creature
There are a lot of labels in our culture today, many of them are legitimate. But are labels more of a help or a hindrance?
Sometimes I think it can make us feel justified. Suddenly a struggle with paying attention isn't a personal shortcoming that we can overcome, it's A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder) A compulsion with germs and repetition isn't a bad habit born from unstable thinking, it's O.C.D. (Obsessive, Compulsive Disorder).
Some people even label alcoholism as a disease. Of course it's not a disease, it is simply a sin. And sin is not a disease either. Drunkenness is a choice and it crosses the conscience. And it's born from lust (wanting something). Lust in itself is not sinful.
Deuteronomy 12:15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee:the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart. Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
Lust simply means want or desire. In the above verse, God says they could kill and eat the meat of whatever they wanted to eat, whatever their souls lusted after - beef, chicken, deer. Similarly, today we'd say, whatever we crave or sounds yummy. Sinful lust lies in lusting for something illicit.
New Creature.
On calvary, their were two men on either side of Jesus where the only two labels that really exist were represented - sinner and saint. We continue to come up with more and more labels for various conditions through the years, but if God sees only two labels, then shouldn't we?
The saint was just a sinner who repented and believed on Christ and became a new creature. The other man was an unrepentant, unbelieving sinner and remained a sinner. And scripture clearly depicts that it was by the sinner's own choice to reject Christ Jesus, the Messiah.
The Lord Jesus Christ was in between them both — mediator, sinless, spotless lamb of God. He became sin, who knew no sin, that we might be called the righteousness of God.
So really, the only label that has any business being attached to the redeemed of God is New Creature. Old things have passed away.
Old things are passed away because I have passed away. I've been crucified with Christ and am seated with him on the right hand of the father. The life I live is not my own and in him I live, and move and have my being.
When we are born again and saved, we become a "new creature" with a new heart and new desires. Old sinful lusts die and become repulsive and they are replaced with new holy desires to please God. It is a miracle. The redeemed have been given the power to overcome sin and yield to holy desires. We have the power to walk in newness of life. The more we read the Bible, the more we are "fed" and understand who God is and who we are IN him. Why are so many professing Christians walking around acting like they are chained to something that God killed on the cross?
Such a mindset is simply a lie from the enemy (the devil). The just live (and walk) by faith, not by sight. So if your sight calls you something contradictory to what God calls you, it's a lie.
For Christians, every label other than New Creature should grow strangely dim in the light of his glorious face and our miraculous redemption. If you have been born again, you are a New Creature. Walk in it. :)
Sometimes I think it can make us feel justified. Suddenly a struggle with paying attention isn't a personal shortcoming that we can overcome, it's A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder) A compulsion with germs and repetition isn't a bad habit born from unstable thinking, it's O.C.D. (Obsessive, Compulsive Disorder).
Some people even label alcoholism as a disease. Of course it's not a disease, it is simply a sin. And sin is not a disease either. Drunkenness is a choice and it crosses the conscience. And it's born from lust (wanting something). Lust in itself is not sinful.
Deuteronomy 12:15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee:the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart. Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
Lust simply means want or desire. In the above verse, God says they could kill and eat the meat of whatever they wanted to eat, whatever their souls lusted after - beef, chicken, deer. Similarly, today we'd say, whatever we crave or sounds yummy. Sinful lust lies in lusting for something illicit.
James 1:13 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.I'm not opposed to the validity and prudence of proper diagnoses or the potential benefits that might come from them. But for a Christian, there is a label that supersedes all labels. In fact it dismisses every other label.
New Creature.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Galatians 6:15-16 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me:for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
On calvary, their were two men on either side of Jesus where the only two labels that really exist were represented - sinner and saint. We continue to come up with more and more labels for various conditions through the years, but if God sees only two labels, then shouldn't we?
The saint was just a sinner who repented and believed on Christ and became a new creature. The other man was an unrepentant, unbelieving sinner and remained a sinner. And scripture clearly depicts that it was by the sinner's own choice to reject Christ Jesus, the Messiah.
The Lord Jesus Christ was in between them both — mediator, sinless, spotless lamb of God. He became sin, who knew no sin, that we might be called the righteousness of God.
So really, the only label that has any business being attached to the redeemed of God is New Creature. Old things have passed away.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Old things are passed away because I have passed away. I've been crucified with Christ and am seated with him on the right hand of the father. The life I live is not my own and in him I live, and move and have my being.
When we are born again and saved, we become a "new creature" with a new heart and new desires. Old sinful lusts die and become repulsive and they are replaced with new holy desires to please God. It is a miracle. The redeemed have been given the power to overcome sin and yield to holy desires. We have the power to walk in newness of life. The more we read the Bible, the more we are "fed" and understand who God is and who we are IN him. Why are so many professing Christians walking around acting like they are chained to something that God killed on the cross?
Such a mindset is simply a lie from the enemy (the devil). The just live (and walk) by faith, not by sight. So if your sight calls you something contradictory to what God calls you, it's a lie.
For Christians, every label other than New Creature should grow strangely dim in the light of his glorious face and our miraculous redemption. If you have been born again, you are a New Creature. Walk in it. :)
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