2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.
When I was growing up I loved making snowmen. I loved that first snow of the year because it meant that I would get to make my first “creation” of the season. I got quite good at it, if I do say so myself, and remember one year creating a whole family on the front lawn. But the best part of making a snowman was that if I didn’t like the way it turned out I could just start over. I could take the snow, break it up, and reuse it, creating something “better”.
That is how it works when we begin a new life with Jesus Christ. He takes us and “re-works” us into the image and person He desired us to be all along. Sometimes that new life comes out of a life that we destroyed through our choices and our sins. Other times, it is simply improving our lives in small ways that better reflects Him. The image of us being clay and God being the potter, found in Isaiah 64:8 is a great one, for it illustrates how when we submit our lives to God through Jesus Christ, He begins the work of molding and shaping us into the person He created us to be. It reminds us that we each are the work of God’s hands, and not our own.
This is really what Jesus meant when he talked about being born again. In John 3 Jesus tells each one of us that we must be born again. It is not a physical re-birth, but a spiritual re-birth. It is, essentially, a starting over. Why is this so important? Because when we turn our lives over to Jesus Christ, the sins of the past must no longer be part of who we are. The worldly focuses that caused us to live sinful lives must be put aside so that Jesus can truly rule our hearts. For some, this rebirth is painful. It can be tough to give up a lifestyle, and many times we get so used to our sinful choices that sudden change can be difficult. The joy is that who God intends each of us to be is by far much better than anything you can possibly imagine for your own life. That is what makes becoming a new creation so exciting!