The standard of new creation living is very high and powerful, looking at the many benefits it brings to us. Comparing it to our own experience though, it seems unrealistic and far-fetched. However, God never makes empty promises, and considering the high price Jesus paid to put new creation men on the earth, one must expect some extraordinary being to come from it. The new creation was never intended to be comparable to the old.
Add to that God’s desire to see everyone on earth saved, and it makes sense that we should rise to His ideals for us, instead of rejecting them as fantastical. Also, we understand that God will never place such power in the hands of the spiritually inexperienced; growing through the many challenges of life certainly adds the wisdom and strength required for the assignments we have to fulfill.
Having said that, we begin to see that redemption has two sides to it, namely the legal and the practical aspects — with a gap between the two. It is of great importance to understand these elements of redemption. Ignorance of it can cause many well-meaning believers to feel they fail at their walk with the Lord when they stumble.
The legal side of redemption includes all that Jesus accomplished at the cross. Everything is paid for and belongs to us legally; there can be no doubt about it. His work is finished, and the hopelessness that came upon mankind when Adam fell, has been lifted. The debt for our sin, which is the cause of all the agony, was fully settled.
Everything that flowed from Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is now available to every believer — in this life.
While all these benefits legally belong to us, we don’t necessarily experience them in our daily lives in a practical way. Knowing about them is one thing, but fully living in them is often something entirely different. The reason may be the lack of unwavering faith in the complete work of the cross, failure to accept the benefits as realities of the new creation, and an old enemy lurking in the unrenewed mind: sin-consciousness.
While the legal advantages of our redemption are very rich toward us, it would leave us with a dry, robot-like experience if no faith engagement on our part was required to take hold of them. Everything concerning our relationship with God is based on faith. For this reason we need both the knowledge of our benefits and committed faith for a truly victorious life. The unfailing Word of God must be our constitution, and the Holy Spirit our Counsellor, in order to enjoy the fulness of our salvation at this side of the grave.
When redemption with its many facets is fully understood, you will know what belongs to you in Christ, and walk in it by faith. It is God’s will for us:
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:12
The Lord reveals Himself to the world through us, the newly created, born-again sons and daughters of God. We are citizens of heaven with a diplomatic mission on earth. He has no one else to do it. The Lord feeds into our lives as the branch supplies the vine, providing and empowering us to bear the fruit the world so desperately needs.
We are on a good news assignment for which the new creation believer is well equipped. We are excellently positioned in Him. We have the highest authority at our disposal. We are free from debilitating burdens. The Greater One lives in us. We have been endowed with power from on high. Our very identity instills fear in the enemy because the new creation is a formidable being.
Look at Paul’s prayer for the church:
…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:17-23
The chasm between the legal and practical aspects of salvation can be narrowed down until it finally disappears. It happens by growing our faith in Him and His promises through practice. The challenges of life are opportunities to do exactly that. God does not want to frustrate us by keeping those wonderful benefits out of our reach, but provided ways to bridge the gap, and to step into an increasing fulness of what is legally ours!
Memorize & Meditate: Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. ~1 Corinthians 2:12
Confession: I have received the Spirit who is from God that I may know the things that have been freely given to me by God.
