If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Imagine an exhausted man with an empty canteen walking through the desert. You see him, from a distance, making his way toward the oasis where you are. So you run out to him, knowing that all the water he needs is just ahead. You try to persuade him, but he tells you that he cannot stop, “I must press on in my journey,” and off he goes without water.
A lot of Christians live like this. God says, “You’re a new creation.” That’s water to a thirsty soul, but you rush past it saying, “I’m not as new as I need to be.” God says, “You’ve been set free from sin.” There’s power in that for the Christian life, but you rush past, “There are still too many sins I need to conquer.”
You are so passionate about sanctification that you rush past regeneration, and like the man in the desert, eventually you fall down in your pursuit of the Christian life—exhausted. That’s what eventually happens to every person who grasps sanctification but fails to grasp regeneration.
Regeneration is the oasis for your soul. It tells you that beside the work that Christ continues to do, there is the work that he has already done in you. That’s water to a thirsty soul!
Stop fretting about what you are not, and take in who you already are in Jesus Christ. In Christ you are a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come! Drink deeply of this water. It will help you overcome discouragement, and it will sustain you in the journey of the Christian life.
Are you doing more fretting than drinking?
