New Creation, pt 2: Meditation on 2 Cor. 5:17

What does it look like to be a new creature, or new creation in Christ Jesus? I think we can "see" this in seven different ways:

1. New hopes
2. New desires
3. New hates
4. New loves
5. New aspirations for life
6. New audience to please
7. New fears

Now, some of these will look like merely splitting hairs, and it may be just that. But as I meditated on this verse I saw these seven. Giving them more written thought (which is always better for me) may conclude that it is too much splitting hairs or that there needs to be more. Happy to have you along for the ride.

New Hopes:
Most people we know have a messed up (at least, unScriptural) definition of the word "hope". Our modern definition goes something like this, "Man, I hope it does not rain today!" Our hope is built on lack of evidence. Normally, when the above quote is said, or something like it, we are looking into a dark sky, clouding over, wind blowing and maybe even a little thunder. Chances are it is going to rain, no matter how hard you hope. Our word hope really should be the word wish.

Biblically speaking, however, hope is about knowing something for sure. Take the same situation above: The sky is dark, clouding over more and more, and you hear thunder in the distance. Only now, toss in there that God has promised that it will not rain. It seems like we still have a lack of evidence, but it is just the opposite. Let every weather man in Missouri and across the nation say it is going to rain, but it will stay dry, at least until that day is over, for God Himself has promised it.

What does this mean for being a new creation in Christ Jesus? While God may have not promised that it will not rain, He has promised that Christ Jesus will return, that sin will be put away and that His Kingdom is indeed going to come, amongst other such promises. What then does this mean for us as new creations? We camp out on these promises and make them our hope. Whatever else in life may take place, rise up or fall away, we know that God's promises will stand.

This is the reality that Abraham saw when Paul talks about him in Romans 4. God promised him that he was going to be the father of many nations. Abraham looked at his withered body of one hundred years, his wife's withered body of 90 years and the fact that she was not able to have children even when she was young and said, "Alright! I'm gonna be a daddy!" (Pearson Version). Hope does not backdown from circumstances, but latches on to the promise and rides through the storm.