Behold, New

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 335, Behold, New.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Notice the very first word: "therefore." That means this verse doesn't stand alone — it's the conclusion of something Paul has been saying, about the love of Christ that controls us, about Him dying for all so that we would no longer live for ourselves but for Him. New creation, then, is not the fruit of your effort, your willpower, your good intentions for the new year. It is the consequence of what Christ has already done for you.

"If anyone is in Christ." It doesn't say "if anyone tries hard enough" or "if anyone fixes themselves." It says "in Christ." The transformation happens inside a relationship — being joined to Him, like a branch attached to a vine. It's that nearness, that union, that produces the change. It's not a renovation from the outside in. It's a new life from the inside out.

And look at the word Paul chooses: creation. That's the same word used in Genesis, when God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing. It's not a patch job on what already existed. It's not a renovation, a touch-up, a second chance for the same old person to try again. It's creation — something genuinely new, called into existence by the same power that made light shine out of darkness.

And then comes the part I want you to hear carefully: "the old has passed away." Already. Not someday, if you try hard enough. Already passed away. This is a declaration about something that already happened, the moment you entered Christ — not a distant promise still waiting to be fulfilled. And completing it: "behold, the new has come." That word "behold" is an invitation to stop and look. It's God saying: look at your life again. Not only at what's still broken, what still needs fixing — look also at what I have already done.

I want to ask you, gently: is there some old thing you're still carrying around as if it were your identity, even though it has already passed away in Christ? Maybe it's an old shame you think still defines you. Maybe it's a habit you treat as an inseparable part of who you are. Maybe it's simply the lie that you'll never really change. But the text says: it has already passed. And in its place, something new has come — and that something new is you, in Christ, today.

So today, write down or say out loud that old thing that has already passed away. And live, even if just for today, as the new person you already are — not the one you're trying to become, but the one God has already made.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.