New

A new knee – that’s my latest acquisition. When all’s said and done, it’s pretty expensive. More importantly to me, however, are the feelings of newness. Although the old one no longer worked so good, this one has a ways to go yet. I’m looking forward to when it feels fully-functional!

How easily Believers forget that “new” is really … new. At salvation, as promised, “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). That Greek word for “new” is kainos, which means recently made, unused, unprecedented. Without even looking, I know which one is my new knee because it still feels new – there are many sensations reminding me of its newness. As the psalmist prayed, the sinful heart of man needs constant continual renewal: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10). Because it’s our [sinful] nature, we must be encouraged to “forget the former things,” and not “dwell on the past.” (Isaiah 43:18). There is a way unbecoming of Christians – ways filled with greed, pride, and impurity. Paul admonished the born-again, those in-Christ: “But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the Truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:20-24). I have high expectations of this new knee – as should those who know Christ and live in the power of His resurrection. We can expect and experience the joy of His great salvation here and now. Yes, in Him, we have … new life!