Are you a new creation?
Are you a new creation?
When you came out of the waters of immersion, did you become an overwhelming conqueror? (Rom 8:37) Look at your life now versus your life before you were clothed in Christ (Gal 3:27) in baptism. Did you actually change who you were? Are you, as this verse says, " a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come?"
Q: Can we be the same as we were before baptism, or do we have to change?
A: We're told, "do not be conformed to the FORMER lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior." (I Pt 1:14-15; 4:1-3) For we have spent enough of our PAST lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles--when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries."
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? And having been set free from sin...For the wages* of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 6:1-2; 22-23)
Look at your life. God gave you a gift in baptism, and it's the greatest ever. Are you using it? God freed us from our bonds so that we'd NO LONGER BE IN THEM. We sometimes slip and fall, but if we continue to do as we've always do, we'll get what we've always gotten. . "He who is steadfast in righteousness will attain to life, and he who pursues evil will bring about his own death. The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord, but the blameless in their walk are His delight" ( Pro 11:19-20) Let's not get the wages of sin, but commit to that change and receive eternal life.
*freebie: wages are something you have to work for. What are you working towards?
(PN158)