A New Life

Jesus Christ can provide a fresh start

No matter what may haunt a man from his past, Jesus Christ can provide a fresh start, a clean slate, a new beginning. That’s really what conversion is all about. When a man looks to Jesus as savior, surrenders his will to the will of Christ, repents and is born again, he really is given a new life.

We should walk in newness of life

Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:3-6).

Baptism marks a new beginning or new birth for a Christian

The old life with all its sin is renounced. A new life begins. It is a life patterned after Jesus. We are no longer controlled by the devil. We have become children of God. We must behave like God’s children. We are specifically charged to put off the old man with his corrupt deeds and put on a new man made in the image of the Creator (Colossians 3:9). We must rid our lives of all that is wicked and vile, and fill the void with what is good.

We must become what god wants us to be

The problem is that many find the promises of Jesus very appealing, but are unwilling to accept his demands. They want the blessings of a relationship with Christ without any of the responsibilities. That’s not possible. Yes, there is forgiveness, but there must also be reformation. We must become what God wants us to be. That’s why he gives us a fresh start, a new beginning, that we might become a new man. “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Would you like to be a new man?

Read your Bible. Believe what it says. Repent of your sins. Confess the precious name of Jesus. Be baptized! Christ will add you to his church, and you can become the person he wants you to be.

–Roger

SEPTEMBER 18, 2011