Out With The Old In With The New…
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (New Living Translation)
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Some months back, after my God daughter became engaged, I felt lead in my spirit to talk to her about something. I knew it probably was going to be a rough pill to swallow, because of the nature of our relationship (because I am her go to person), but I realized it had to be done. We were speaking on the telephone one day after work, like it was customary for us to do almost daily, and I said, “you do realize that our relationship will have to change, because you are getting married? You do realize that Shane will be the priority and we won’t be able to talk as much.” She said yes, she did realize that, but it would be hard because I was her person, but we talked a little bit more and I told her I would still be there but that her person would become her husband when she married. Although we have a covenant and a very strong relationship, theirs should be stronger and greater still.
It is funny how we sometimes do the same thing, in our relationship with God. When we come to Christ we want to still try to maintain the same relationships we had previously in the same way that we use to maintain them but still have a new existence in Christ. For others of us God is wanting us to move in our relationship with Him, by going deeper or going to a new level of commitment with Him and to become closer to Him and yet we are holding on to people that do not fit the bill for where God is taking us, or God knows that they will be the priority and not Him. We do not want to let go of the old life to obtain the new. We think that business as usual, and still living as usual will still produce in us the closeness, the seal and the covenant that we need with God. But it won’t. To have something you have never had before you must do some things you have never done before. Just as my Goddaughter could not get married and have me as her person in her life, we cannot enter into a committed, covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ and still hang on to a lot of the people in our lives that are causing us to prioritize Him, less than what He deserves. We cannot make God number four on our priority list under people, jobs and so many others things and then expect that we will formulate and maintain an irreplaceable bond with Him. One that gives us a life with Him that is brand new and that will be in a constant state of maturity, evolution and growth.
All of us have something old that God is calling for us to move out of a place of priority in order for our relationship with Him to become the priority, for us to go deeper and to obtain a relationship and life that is really brand new. God wants our relationship with Him to become a place where we know Him and rely upon Him and He knows that we can be relied upon. Our relationship with God should be a place of commitment, covenant and meaningful relationship. God should always be the priority in our lives, no one or nothing should be more important than He is. We should be determine to go out with the old and in with the new to ensure our relationship is strong, and secure, and God knows that we prioritize Him above all else! If we want something new in our walk and relationship with God, we have to learn to put away the old! You cannot be married to the old us and life and enter into a new marriage with Him and expect it to work, something will always interfere and mess up the flow and the continuity of the other…You have to make a choice, do we want the old or the new?
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