I recently made the mistake of bringing a purple vitamin beverage into my prized “She Shed.” This is the room in the house that is all mine. I live with 4 boys and I designed the room to be a sacred and beautiful space just for me. Well, I set the drink on the side table for just a moment and sure enough the baby reached up and knocked it right off spilling the purple contents all over the light grey and cream rug.
Thankfully, I had purchased the extended warranty on the rug! I filed a claim and waited to hear from the company. I was looking forward to receiving a brand new rug! When the company contacted me, they said they’d be sending me a professional stain remover–not a new rug. While I was grateful for the cleaner, I was disappointed I wouldn’t be receiving a brand new rug for my room. I was concerned that even with the professional stain remover the stain would not come out of my beautiful rug.
I was thinking about the passage 2 Corinthians 5:17
Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting human’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
When Christ regenerates us in salvation, we become NEW CREATIONS. He doesn’t just clean us up. (Like my rug) He actually transforms us into something new, something that didn’t exist before. We no longer have the remnant of our old selves. The stain that was once there isn’t covered up or blotted out, we are made brand new.
This spoke to me today because sometimes I see myself as a stained rug. I allow my old sinful ways to get the best of me. 2 Corinthians 5:17 reminded me that I AM MADE NEW because of Jesus. The things that previously ensnared me no longer exist as the core of who I am. I am a new creation! And while I didn’t get a new rug, the reminder of being made new in Christ was the perfect gift today.