"17 What this means is that those who become christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!"
This makes me very happy. God's gift of forgiveness is powerful enough to nullify our sins and create in us a new person. We're made new when we come to the cross and repent, accepting Christ as our Lord & Savior. Have you ever stopped to think of how wonderful that is? God takes away from us the old, dirty rags, burdens, and sins when we repent. We're made NEW. We don't have to carry around the shame of who we were before, it's been forgiven. We don't have to constantly try to redeem ourselves, it's been taken care of. We don't have to fight for our forgiveness, it's been given freely. It doesn't matter how screwed up we were, or what we've done. Look at Paul: he did everything he could to stop the growth of the church (Philippians 3:6), and he persecuted christians to the extreme, going to their homes & dragging them out to put put in prison. He was on his way to bring christians back to Jerusalem to be punished, when God intervened. He got ahold of Paul's (known then as Saul) heart, made him new in Him, and he's now known as one of the greatest apostles. Such a powerful testiment! If we think for one second that we simply cannot be made new in Christ for what we've done or said; that nothing can change us, then we're listening to lies told to us by Satan himself. NOTHING is too great for God. And though we may not deserve it... at all, He still offers us that precious gift of new life in Him freely. We're new creations in Christ, how freaking awesome is that?!
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