Being His Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:16-21
(16) From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
(17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
(18) All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
(19) that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
(20) Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
(21) For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This passage is so pregnant with meaning and application that a short blog post can't really do it justice. One theme of it is that we are new creations. Think about what that means for a minute. Psychologists would tell us that we are bound to our pasts. Of course the past does shape us, but it does not have to determine how we live today if we are in Christ. No, we are new creations. I may be wrong, but when I read that I take it to mean that we are fundamentally different.

When I went to college I really wanted to erase the baggage of my social status in high school. I was a geek and everyone knew it. Spaz may be an even better word to describe me. When I got to college I basically just wanted to find a girl and start having sex. I kind of did that when I was a freshman, but we broke up just as we started our sophomore year. My desire for hooking up was basically written across my forehead and I don't think the girls in my classes were impressed.

Then I got out on my own and I tried to erase that past. I never managed to find anyone to date until I met Amanda. Our dating, engagement, and marriage make for more stories, but suffice it to say that my base motives hadn't changed much.

Now they have. Christ set me free from bondage to pornography and self-gratification. He set me free from bondage to gluttony and laziness. I am a new creation in Him. My motives for living have changed. To be sure, there are still times when I live for myself, but overall I live with the goal of pleasing Him rather than myself.

Are you ready to die to yourself and live for Him? Are you ready to shed the baggage of the past? Come to the cross and repent of your self-sufficient ways and make Him the lord of your life instead. I guarantee that He will do a better job than you do.