A New Person In Jesus Christ

In Jesus Christ you become a new person. You die to your old self. Your slate is wiped clean and you get a fresh start. You become free from the bondage and weight of the sin and the shame that your former self carried. From the very point that you give your heart to Jesus you die to the world and you live to God. Your brokenness is healed over time until you suddenly realize one day that you're not broken anymore. You become filled with peace that cannot be explained. You become lighter because the weight of your past is gone and your fears disappear. You know you have hope, and a glorious, beautiful, and wonderful future. It is God that defines you and not the world. It's amazing, and beautiful, and exhilarating.

The choice to choose Jesus comes with many other expectations and choices, and some of those choices will be made for you by others.

But as Jesus said in Matthew 16:25-26 KJV:

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

You are expected to live a new and changed life. You are expected to turn away from the sinful things that you used to do. The Holy Spirit will make you feel guilty about it.

The best thing you can do is to pursue Jesus. Because if you are pursuing Him, you are pursuing His holiness and righteousness. It helps to give you the discipline to avoid sinning willfully. Jesus will truly become your helper, your comforter, your provider, and your best friend. If you are constantly seeking God's will and direction for your life, He will help you walk the narrow path that leads to life instead of the broad path that leads to hell.

We're all going to mess up; we are all sinners, and the only one who is perfect is God. But He gives us forgiveness and grace. So, you get to try again. I have heard it said that it is better to try and fail 1,000 times and to keep trying rather than to not try at all.

Just remember that just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should.

Romans 6:1-14, 1 Corinthians 10:23, James 4:4, and my own experience are the main sources of inspiration and references for this post.

Romans 6:1-14 KJV

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 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. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

1 Corinthians 10:23 KJV

23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

James 4:4 KJV

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.