115 - Newly Born in Christ

Philippians 1:6

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

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You spent your life before Christ seeing yourself a certain way based on this world. Ingrained in you was a worldly perspective that is no longer part of your new identity. You have been made new in Christ and will spend the rest of your life coming to grasp that truth. You will progressively, from one degree to another, come to see yourself as a completely new creation, separate and apart from this world. Your perspective will transform from one based on circumstances and situations to a godly perspective that remains steady despite what you experience.

Your journey is just beginning, yet it begins with the stability of a new standing and position before God. You now live in a safe, protected, guarded, and hidden place in Christ. From this position of security, you can safely live out your new existence. You do so with confidence in God, who by His power will faithfully bring to completion what He has begun in you until the day of Christ Jesus.

It will take a lifetime to understand what pertains to God and your new life in Christ. This is a lifelong journey of discovering the depth and greatness of God and the richness of the spiritual life He has created for you. It is a growth process of seeking out and uncovering the treasures of wisdom and understanding hidden in Christ, and applying them to the spiritual perspective He is forming within you, according to your faith. Understanding and not yet fully understanding, seeing and not yet seeing clearly, often exist together. Even moments when you feel surrounded by darkness are part of walking by faith and not by sight, learning to trust and rely on God.

What you come to understand will rise above this world and give you the ability to do the same. Rising above is a gradual process of letting go of what now fades in comparison to the surpassing greatness of what you have received in Christ. You let go by seeing more clearly what you now possess. You acknowledge God’s reality above your own limited perception. Your desires begin to align with His, shifting from the temporal to the eternal, from the worldly to the spiritual. This means refocusing, meditating, and pondering what is from above, setting your mind on these things rather than on what belongs to this world.

Be still in the knowledge that God is God and that He holds you securely in His transforming work. Know that He has made you spiritually holy and righteous through Christ, and that He is aligning your daily walk with that new reality. It is God who works in you. It is God who produces the growth.

Fan into flame what has been planted within you. Embrace who He says you are and, in your mind, nurture this new reality. In all your ways, recognize and acknowledge what He has already done and what He continues to bring about. Desire His work and His change in your life. See your new nature, your recreated self, Christ in you, as your true identity, and let that be your focus.