The Heart of Flesh

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Cor. 5:17

There is a specific focus throughout Scripture on the fact that those who have been redeemed by God have become new creations. In Ezekiel, God promises to replace our “heart of stone” with a “heart of flesh.” It’s not just a New Testament idea; God has been in the business of radically and totally transforming His people for His glory for all of time.

People throw around the name of Christ rather flippantly and without regard, showing no sign of a true devotion to Him. I don’t intend to go on a diatribe on lukewarm Christianity and the sort, but it is important for those who claim Christ to live and breath as new creations, not as those shaming Christ and bringing glory to everyone and everything but Him.

This verse along with the rest of the narrative of Scripture reminds us that salvation is both extremely simple and entirely complex: we are simply saved by faith alone in Christ, but called to represent and glorify God with the entire complexity of our being - with every word, action, and thought.

The excuse, “I can’t help it, I’m just a sinner” is not an excuse for the redeemed people of Christ. You are a new creation, a sometimes terrifying and difficult yet wholly beautiful calling.