Say You're New

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). 

I was healed on a Tuesday. That Saturday I walked to town, and I happened to run into a friend of mine. We had been bosom buddies. But during the 16 months I had been bedfast, he had seen me only once. 

He was the same old creature he had always been - but I had become a new creature. He laughed about the things we used to do. Pointing to a building down the street, he said, "Remember the night...." and he went on to talk about the time I had picked the lock on the door so some boys could go in and steal candy. 

I sat there with a mask-like look on my face, as if I didn't know what he was talking about. (I remembered it well enough, but I wanted to use this as an opportunity to witness to him.) 

"What's the matter with you? You act like you don't remember - and you were the ringleader," he finally said. 

"Lefty, the fellow you were with that night is dead." 

"You're not dead! I know you almost died, but you're not dead! That's you sitting there!" 

"Oh," I said, "you're looking at the house I live in - my body. The man on the inside who gave permission to the body to pick that lock, is gone. And this man on the inside is now a new creature in Christ Jesus." 

Confession: I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. I hold fast to the confession that I am a new creature.