Moment-by-Moment

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

The Bible says that we are new creations— our old life of sin has died, and His new life has become manifested in ours. This means that we are no longer creatures of sin, but of purity and holiness. So if we now have Christ and all of His power dwelling in us, and if our spirits have been merged with the Holy Spirit, why is it that we continue to fall so short, and often return to old failures and habits? If we have been raised to walk in the likeness of His resurrection, why is holiness such a hard concept for us to grasp, much less live out?

“I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyways.” Romans 7:19

I used to get very frustrated with this concept, especially as I personally battled against the same temptations. I would do something wrong, apologize to God, do well for a little while, and then do the same wrong thing all over again. I couldn’t get away from the past, and the future looked as though it wouldn’t be any different. Even though I would pray and ask God to deliver me from my failures, I wasn’t really changing. Why? I wasn’t abiding in Him moment-by-moment; in the words of a Hispanic, this concept was (and is) the big enchilada.

Yes, we have been made new and we have a new nature. But we also are given a choice to live in that new nature every second, every moment, of every day. We can either choose to let Christ’s life flow through us, or we can cut off the flow of that life and choose to go back and pick up the old, dead sins that have been crucified in the hopes that they will do what they once did for us. It’s like going back and trying on clothes that you’ve outgrown— they’re not going to fit right, they’re going to be incredibly uncomfortable, and they’re going to look downright hideous on you. The things that once gave us some momentary pleasure or relief will never work now that we share a life with Jesus, because we’re not who we once were. We are now in Christ’s image, and with every choice and action and emotion we must allow Him to be in control and open our lives to His power. When we don’t do this, it’s like we’ve gotten short-term amnesia, and we forget who we are (sons and daughters of the King) and try to find power in either our old, sinful habits or ourselves. If you saw a prince rummaging through a garbage can, does that make him any less a prince? No. He may be acting incredibly foolish, but he’s still a prince. The question is not whether or not we are new creations, or whether or not we are really saved, or whether or not Christ is powerful enough to sanctify us and break our old addictions— the question is whether or not we are abiding in His life moment-by-moment. The past does not keep us in bondage and the future has no authority to intimidate us, if we can only grasp the concept of allowing Jesus’ life to flow through us continuously. And if you stop the flow in one minute, don’t give up and be discouraged! You have the very next moment to open the floodgates again.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” John 15:4

The truth is, though we are made new, we will continue to fall short of His glory for as long as we are alive on this earth. But by choosing to be sanctified in each moment of our lives, we are saying to God that He is welcome to use us as He pleases, and we become vessels through which His work can be accomplished and His power can be shown. It is then that we truly begin living as Christ did, and the old things fall away and we see them as the worthless things that they are in comparison to His glory. As we abide in Him, we show that we are, indeed, new creations, and we will live knowing the fullness of His true power.

-Kristina (Underground Grad)