Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV.
As we look at the cross, we see our old selves perishing, dying with Jesus. That old life of fleshly living has died, and now we’ve been raised with Christ to a new life. The old has gone; the new is here. We eat much differently now; we exercise and live in a manner consistent with our new nature. The cross has and is changing everything about us!
And all of this change is from God (2 Corinthians 5:18). It is not from us; we don’t transform ourselves; we aren’t the source of our transformation. It comes from God who reconciled us to Himself, and reconciled people are experiencing transformation.
Question 6. According to 2 Corinthians 5:19, how did God reconcile you to Himself?
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Yes, reconciliation happens as the offense that caused the division is removed. You sinned, but God did not count your sin against you; instead, He counted it against His own Son. In this way, He removed the division between you and Him and reconciled you back to Himself.
Just think of it: the times when you and I chose to gratify our flesh, God put that all on Jesus, as if Jesus did every one of our sins. God put them all to Jesus’ account and treated Him accordingly. In so doing, He removed all offense between us, thereby reconciling us to Himself.
Let that scene unfold before your eyes. See the Great Reconciler removing all your sins and loading Jesus down with every one of them. Let it wash your heart and mind clean, and experience this washing at the cross to know that God has loved you so very much. To know that He made amends for your wrongs, reconciled you to Himself, and set you free!
Then let the scene live before your eyes, and let yourself live differently in light of it. See the death of Jesus as the death of all your sinning. See that God’s reconciliation of you has brought peace between you and Him, but war between you and your flesh.
Summary: washing at the cross changes our motivation, it changes the way we live, it changes the way we view other people, it makes us new creations, reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Wow!
Yes, as I said at the beginning of this lesson, washing at the cross of Jesus Christ over and over in God’s Word will change everything about us. It will help us lose weight as we live in freedom from the domination of our flesh and develop habits that will last the rest of our lives.
Question 7. How does washing at the cross and entering into the experience of the cross make you a new creation in Christ? How does it change the way you live?
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