Day 44: From the Balcony

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:17

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

Understand:

1. What does it mean to you to be a new creation in Christ?

Listen: One of the most exciting – and scariest – times of my life was when I gave my heart to Jesus and asked Him to save me from my sins. See, I am quite a stubborn person. I knew the life I was living at the time was stepping over the line but I refused to see my sins and, even worse, refused to listen even though I could hear God calling me to repent. I tried so hard to ignore Him that it became more work to do whatever I wanted to do than it would have been to simply stop and hear what I needed to hear. God was patient with me but I do believe at one point, He said, “Enough!” because He placed conviction on my heart and it literally brought me to my knees. Nothing I did brought any satisfaction. In fact, the fear I experienced over the thought of dying and going to hell because I knew I was a sinner, became so all-consuming that I was afraid to even eat mashed potatoes as choking was a potential hazard.

One Sunday, me and one of my sisters went to church. I sat in the balcony and just listened. The call for repentance was so heavy that the weight was almost crushing me. When the pastor gave an altar call and asked if anyone wanted to come forward so he could pray with them, I practically sprinted down the balcony steps to the front of the church. I was so hysterical that the pastor asked this nice little old lady to take me in the back and talk with me. When I look back now, I’m so thankful she did because I guarantee I was bubbling like a wild woman in front of the entire congregation. It was 2 Corinthians 5:17 that she read to me. We talked about asking Jesus to forgive my sins and then what it meant after I gave my life to Christ: I became a new creation. Nothing about my past mattered any longer because Christ threw those bad things away. He had died to save me from the sins I had committed and would commit in the future and He would never again remember my sins. I was a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Here’s an important part though. She also explained that even though I had given my life to Christ that I needed to understand that it would take a little time for Him to heal me. She explained that the pain I felt would go away but I needed to be patient and give it time. It’s like a little child who falls and scrapes their knees on the ground. The cuts are cleaned up so they can heal but it took a bit of time for them to heal. In the same way, I needed time to heal and Jesus was healing me. She was right. I felt raw for several days – maybe even weeks – after I gave my life to Christ. I knew I had been forgiven and was now saved but I had to allow Him to work in my life and make all of the wounds of my past heal and, they did, eventually.

I just want to offer this encouragement to you. If you feel Jesus tugging on your heart to let Him come into your life to save you from your sins, then just say yes! He is simply waiting for you to invite Him. Then just remember that you are now a new creation in Christ. Your past is just that – your past. He is going to throw your sins away and never think about them again. Try to do the same thing. Don’t let your past creep up on you to haunt you. Throw it away and allow Christ to begin healing you. It will take time but it will happen. Be patient but believe!

Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for picking us up, cleaning our hearts, and helping us begin healing. Thank You for saving us and for making us a new creation. Thank You for forgetting about our past sins. Help us to forget our sins after we have confessed them and asked for forgiveness. In Jesus name we pray, amen.