An Entirely New Me

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

The Bible is filled with contrasting elements to teach essential truths. Take “light” and “darkness” for example. When Paul wanted to teach the people at Ephesus about their old and new natures, he said, “You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). I cannot think of anything with more of a contrast than light and darkness.

Please notice that he didn’t say they were “in” darkness, he said they “were” darkness. Likewise, he didn’t say they were “in” light, he said they “were” light. His point was that God had changed their nature. He didn’t just improve their nature; it was much more than that. He gave them a completely new nature. Because of that, they needed to learn to walk in harmony with their new nature—“…walk as children of light.”

Why would that be important for them, and for us? It was so they/we could be like Christ, not just act like Him. John said it like this in his first epistle, “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1^st John 1:5).

God knew that we couldn’t solve the problem of the sinful nature by improving our behavior. He had to give us an entirely new self—Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is an act of grace on His part.

Our new nature comes as we surrender our lives to Christ and receive the fullness of what He accomplish for us on Calvary. Only after He changes our identity and makes us a partaker of His nature will we be able to change our behavior—to “walk as children of light.”

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).