Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
--2 Corinthians 5:17
It’s never too late for a new beginning! This is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Real change is possible!
But you may wonder, “Why is change necessary? I’m basically a good person.” Well, let’s think about this.
I recently read a psychologist’s report in the New York Times magazine on the emotional, rational, and moral behavior of infants. They discovered that babies are born with a spiritual disability or a moral inclination to do what is wrong.
But we didn’t really need a psychological study to tell us that, did we? Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
You and I…all of us…were born with the congenital disease called sin that brings death.
You see, you don’t have to teach a child to lie; you have to teach a child not to lie! Sinfulness comes naturally. And this is the spiritual condition of every person before redemption through Christ Jesus.
The world will try to convince you of your “goodness,” but listen! We are not measured by a worldly standard, but that of a Holy God.
As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” You need to change!
WE ARE NOT MEASURED BY A WORLDLY STANDARD, BUT THAT OF A HOLY GOD!
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
Galatians 5:1–4
On July 4, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge gave a speech in Philadelphia to mark the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. After recounting the many ways God had blessed and preserved the United States, he concluded with these words of warning: “If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped.”
Though they are enormous blessings, neither our political nor our spiritual liberty is guaranteed. Either or both may be lost if we are careless to maintain the things that produce it. So often we take for granted what many people can only dream of. There are enemies of liberty in both realms that seek to destroy freedom and bind others so that they can have control and power. The most important thing we can do for our nation and our political freedom is to exercise our religious freedom. And, more importantly, as we walk in the liberty Christ provided for us through our salvation, we have the ability to make a powerful impact on those around us, both for this world and for the next.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Do not allow your liberty to be lost through careless inattention to things that would take it away.
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