where waves grow sweet

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Cor 5:17

I had a thrilling train of thought the other day. What if we really are a new creation in Christ? And what if the “old things” passing away wasn’t just a one-time occurrence when we first came to Christ, but one of a constantly renewing nature as we live in Christ? And what if the arrival of “the new” means that we don’t need to battle the old, but only to realize that because it has been superseded by something so much higher and better, it has been rendered completely irrelevant?

I don’t know if this is true for others, but I’ve gotten so easily entangled in assessments of myself based on my experiences; a collection of data that has developed into an identity, affecting everything from the way I view myself to the way I relate to people to my hope for the future. I’m coming to see that anything of the old that we try to cling to becomes as stinky and spoiled as the day-old manna of the Israelites. (Ex 16:20) It is not only failures or unholy attachments that keep us from living in the flow of this new life, but also successes that anchor us to the past, even of yesterday, by narrowly defining us or tying us to our performance rather than to the life of Christ with all of its vibrant, constantly renewing, ever-expanding expression. In light of this, the old doesn’t need to be further analyzed and given credence, but rather thrown into the depths of His love… where nothing but the new can survive.

The best news is that He doesn’t tell us to try to be new, but that we are new. The old has gone. His death on the cross made sure of it. So maybe our whole role in this thrilling venture is to simply ask for His help in believing these truths so that we can start living as we truly are… redeemed and free, forever-new creations of the living God.