In the New Normal, God wants to make you into a whole new you with a new, different, and better kind of life!
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NLT)
This week, I’m celebrating my half-century birthday!!! Along the way, I’ve had my eyes fixed. I’ve had my teeth fixed. I’ve had my knee fixed. There are a lot of things that have needed fixing up along the way.
When you give your life to Jesus, the old life is gone and a whole new life starts. Everything changes. But, most of us don’t live like we’ve been changed. Instead, we’re frustrated, we’re rushed, we’re tired, we’re always stressed about work, about family, about feeling unsatisfied. We aren’t where we want to be in life and we’re not where God wants us to be.
The New Normal means you get 3 benefits when you become a New Creation.
You get A Brand-New Perspective.
So, we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! 2 Corinthians 5:16
When I was in second grade, I started wearing glasses. They were coke bottle glasses. I was basically blind without my glasses. People ask me, “Were you nearsighted or far-sighted?” I was NO-sighted! Back in 2008, I had Lasik eye surgery, it was so strange that when I walked in, everything was blurry, but a few minutes later, when I left, I could already start to see better than I had for my whole life. You don’t even know how blind you are until you have vision!
God changes how you see the people around you. Now, instead of seeing people as your enemies, you start to see them as people that God loves and that Jesus died for. You see every person as a person of value and worth.
You also see Jesus in a new way. Jesus is God in a Bod! He left the riches of heaven to be born on this planet, with all of its mess and misery. And He lived a perfect life and never sinned. Then He willingly sacrificed His life on the cross and died for you and me, and anyone who will put their faith and trust in Him, and then He came back to life and rose again! And then ascended to His Father and He’s coming back again for His people! We see Him so differently now!
Getting a new perspective changes the way you feel about your whole day. When you start looking at your spouse differently, your marriage changes. When you start looking at your finances differently, and you see what you have instead of what you don’t have, it changes the way you see your money.
How do you see church? Before you’re a Christian, church is a boring obligation that takes up your Sunday morning. But, after you’re a follower of Jesus, you see Church as a family and as a chance to be a part of a movement that is changing the world. We don’t have to do church, we get to be the church!
Instead of the problems in the world, you begin to see the promises of God:
- God’s promises are NEW every morning!
- God will renew your strength!
- God will never leave you or forsake you!
- God will forgive you!
- God has good plans for you!
- Nothing can separate you from the love of God!
- You have God’s Spirit living inside of you!
- You are chosen and dearly loved!
- Your new perspective also totally changes the way you see yourself!
A Brand-New Person.
During his eight-month prison term, Lil Wayne, took time every day to read the Bible. Do you know what he said he liked the best about reading the Bible? “It was deep! I liked the parts where some character was once this, but he ended up being that. Like he’d be dissing Jesus, and then he ends up being a saint. That was cool.”
You read about lots of people in the Bible, and once they were this, and then they meet Jesus, and they become that!
Your Creator is your Recreator!
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. 2 Corinthians 5:17
It doesn’t say you get a new person! It says you become a whole new person!
God gives you a brand-new identity. Now, you get to live every day according to who you really are, not who you used to be.
You get a Brand-New Purpose.
We all need a reason to live. The two greatest days in your life are the day you’re born, and the day you discover why you were born. Where can you find your purpose?
Science does a good job at some things like technological advances and inventions, but when the magazine New Scientist tried to answer some basic philosophical questions from a scientific point of view in 2016, they failed miserably. One of the questions they tried to answer was “What is the meaning of life?”
Here’s their scientific answer: “The harsh answer is ‘it has none.’ Your life may feel like a big deal to you, but it’s actually a random blip of matter and energy in an uncaring and impersonal universe. When it ends, a few people will remember you for a while, but they will die too. Even if you make the history books, your contribution will soon be forgotten. Humans will go extinct; Earth and the sun will be destroyed. Eventually, the universe itself will end. Against this appalling reality, how can a human life have any real meaning?
Basically, they’re saying that without Jesus, life doesn’t have any real purpose.
But God says, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
God put you on this planet for a purpose. When you boil it all down, I can tell you your life purpose is these two things: To know Jesus, and to make Him known! Whatever you thought your purpose was, when you follow Jesus, He gives you Brand-New Purpose: to know Jesus and make Jesus known to the world.
The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17
“Jesus gives me a new perspective, to live as a new person with a new purpose.”
But first, you have to give Jesus permission.
There was this warehouse property on the market. The building had been vacant for months and needed to be repaired. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and trashed the inside of the building.
The owner was showing a potential buyer the property, and he emphasized that he would replace all the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out all the garbage.
The buyer said, “Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place, I’m going to build something totally NEW. I don’t want the building; I want the property.”
God wants your life. But He doesn’t want you to work hard to fix up your old life. He wants your permission as the general contractor of your life to rebuild a Brand New you on a new foundation: The Solid Rock of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus comes into your heart and your life, the old life is over and gone. He makes all things new. All He wants is the property and the permission to start building. God makes a Brand New You.