Now we can see the power of finding our identity in Christ and His love. When we see how deeply loved we are, then we can live differently.
Because Jesus loved us so much that He suffered and died for us, now in response, we should not live for ourselves but for Him who died for us. This is what it means to live out the gospel.
This truth hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I understood it. Those words “might no longer live for themselves” penetrated my heart because, as I surveyed the history of my life, I saw that I had been living for myself. Not in every way, I served my family daily, but my selfishness showed up in how I responded to my husband and children and how I reacted to their sin struggles.
I pray that as you contemplate the cross today that God’s amazing love is affecting your heart and that you see your situation and yourself with new eyes full of love and hope. I also pray that you are coming to know how you are able, by the power of the Holy Spirit living in you, to no longer live for yourself but instead to live for Him, Who died for you.
Paul is making a significant point here, so he anchors the eternal truth to its Source. The phrase “in Christ” is an expression used over three hundred times in the New Testament, and every time it is used, it refers to an essential truth about our relationship with or identity in Christ.
Before Christ, in our natural selves, we were self-centered, self-protective, angry, fearful, and living for ourselves. But now in Christ, we are new creations—all things have become new. We have Holy Spirit power to live differently. We can now have an attitude of hope and joy and a loving, eternally minded perspective on our life. We have a new heart that can love and value others more than ourselves and a spirit that desires reconciliation. We are moving from living for ourselves to living for Him, Who died for us. We are “new creations.”
Let’s close out our lesson by making a summary of what we have learned. We have seen that God loves us. Paul took us to the cross as proof of God’s love because it was at the cross that Jesus poured out His life unto death for us, to forgive our sins and pardon us and reconcile us to God. And this incredible love of Christ, exhibited on the cross, is the compelling factor in the lives of all believers.
We understood the importance of no longer seeing and judging ourselves or others according to the flesh. Instead, we base our understanding and responses on who Christ has made us to be by His death and resurrection and the infilling of His Holy Spirit.
And finally, we have seen our identity as those who are new creations in Christ. Our old selfish life, self-protectiveness, and self-motivation all died on the cross with Christ, and we rose with Him to a new life. Motivated by the love of Christ, we can turn from selfish living to living for the One Who died for us.
Question 7. What does it mean to be a new creation in Christ? Please share your thoughts:
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I hope your heart has been thoroughly encouraged to see how deeply loved you are by Jesus and that your mind has been renewed by finding your identity in Christ and not in your fears and feelings as a spouse. I’m praying for you and look forward to seeing you in the next lesson, where we will continue our study in 2 Corinthians 5.