The New EditionWhen was the last time you purchased or received something new? Maybe it was acell phone, a car, or an outfit. It could've been a new pair of shoes, a job, oreven a relationship.There's just something about the newness of things. You value it more. You takebetter care of it. You can't wait to tell others about it. However, thateagerness doesn't last.Simply think of all the old things you have acquired over the years. Soon, justlike all the old "new things", the newer "new things" becomes a little boring.We settle down into the humdrum of business as usual. Now, it's just a cellphone, a car, or a pair of shoes. Our affection for it fades as we start tofocus on the next new thing.We can upgrade our phones, trade-in our relationships and change jobs when we'rebored. We can just get the new edition. Unfortunately, this same mentalityspills over into our lives with Christ.Have you ever heard someone say?"Before I was saved." or"When I was still in sin."If you're like me, you've said it yourself.As Christians, we like to think of our lives in two categories: Before-Christand After-Christ.If you and I were to finish the sentences above, I'm sure we could fill a book.One of the best things about being a Christian is the new life we have inChrist. It trumps the old life every time.Sometimes and somewhere along the way, we are tempted to exchange the new lifein Christ for the old way of living. Life starts to happen again. It rains onyour parade more than once. Things that you thought you wouldn't experience as aChristian seem to resurface after Christ!How do you handle it when the old life threatens to choke the newness out oflife in Christ? And what does this new life really mean anyway?I love Merriam-Webster's definition of the word new. It means having recentlycome into existence. Is it possible that we never truly existed before coming toChrist? When you accept Christ in your life, you come into an existence that younever knew about.You never really understood the measure of His sacrifice. You never had a Fatherlike God. You didn't think it was possible for someone to know everything aboutyou, and still love you. And yet, He does. You thought you were free, butliberation has taken on a totally different meaning. Life is not the same.I want to challenge you (and myself) to remember that there is no new edition ofthe new life in Christ. There is nothing better. 2 Corinthians 5:17 reminds usthat "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;behold all things have become new."This scripture doesn't simply say that anyone in Christ could or will be a newcreation. It guarantees that he is. You and I are new in Him. The life we nowlive has greater understanding and subsequently, greater responsibility. Weshould never settle for anything routine in our relationship with God.Every single day is new. Every single old thing is just that old. It's uselessand ineffective. After all, it's called the old life for a reason and thisedition is just fine.
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