Redecorated

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ~ Colossians 3:9-10

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about who we are, who we have become because of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. In verse 17 he says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." But how can that be? I still look the same, may act the same, I haven't changed into a horse or a puppy. If I don't see a change, how can Paul say that I am something else? When Paul said that we were a new creation, he wasn't referring to our outer image, but what happens to us on the inside. The Book of Genesis explains how God created Adam to show that we are body, soul, and spirit. When sin entered the world, our body (our flesh)--the part that lives "for me"--took over. But, when we accepted Christ into our hearts and lives and His Spirit dwells--lives, sets up camp, makes it His own residence, redecorates--within us, we are changed from the inside out and that is what Paul is talking about.

Let me give you an example, my husband and I have adopted new eating habits. We're starting to eat better, healthier. We are allowed one cheat day per week and on those cheat days, the "cheat foods" aren't as satisfying as they used to be. They don't taste as good as they used to, they don't sit well anymore, it's just not as fun to "cheat" all the time. When God's Holy Spirit comes and lives within us and He "redecorates,"--cleaning up the cobwebs, throwing out old curtains, stripping the wall paper, pitching old junk, etc.--even when we return to the things that used to be "fun" and the things that used to "satisfy" us, they're not fun and fulfilling anymore. That's because we've been changed from the inside out, and now we have a craving for the things of our new self. We desire to go to church and hear the message, to fellowship with other believers, to read God's Word. That is because we are no longer the old self, trapped in a sinful man. Instead, we are a new creation, we have God's Holy Spirit living inside of us. He has broken all the chains and we have been set free!

Now that we realize that the Holy Spirit is living inside of us, removing the old selfish nature--He did some spring cleaning and threw out everything--and filling us with His nature, His self, we don't have to believe a lie anymore. The Bible says that the devil has come to lie to us (John 10:10) and he has spun a really good one. He has convinced a whole slew of people that we will always be sinners, always be fallen, never be the righteousness of Christ. But if the Holy Spirit has redecorated you from the inside out, how can that be? If God, through the Holy Spirit, is living inside of you, then what is keeping you from living in God's fullness? What is keeping me?