New Life!

 1/24/18            Bob           about 45

“New Life” is a popular name for churches these days, and for good reason.  The good news of salvation in Jesus brings “new life” to hearts once dead in sin.  But what does that mean, and how does it happen?

I had initiated a witnessing conversation at our grocery store coffee shop by asking a man there, Bob, about 45, if he would be willing to tell me his views on life after death.  He responded that he hoped to be reincarnated “because I would just love to get a brand-new start.  If I could do it over again, I wouldn’t make all the stupid mistakes I made as a younger man.”

Bob was very open to talking and I had the privilege of explaining how we are given that fresh start – and new life – in Christ.  – “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…”  (Eph.2)  

Bob responded with gladness at the possibility of a fresh start and new life.  The funny thing is, he already attends a church called New Life (one of several by that name here in Chicago).  He should have already had faith in Christ and not been distracted by thoughts of reincarnation, but had been feeling like he was failing as a Christian because he couldn’t erase his past, which causes him to long for that new start that he feels might be possible in reincarnation.  

But the Bible denies reincarnation.  It says in Hebrews 9:27 that “people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”

I asked “If you were able to perfectly repent of your sins, if that were possible, and never sin again for the next twenty years, would you still be guilty for the sins you have already committed?”  He wasn’t sure.  “Ok, so more specifically, if you committed murder, but never murdered again for twenty years, would you still be a murderer?”

“Yes, of course”

Even the most sincere repentance can’t erase the fact that we have already sinned.  Simply being sorry about our sins doesn’t make them go away.  God is good, which means that He is loving but that He also loves justice.  Unfortunately for us this means that sin must have consequences, that the punishment must fit the crime.  Yes, we should be sorry, and yes, we will repent as a result of godly sorrow, but salvation is found in Christ alone.

What can erase our sins?  This is the question that most religions try to answer one way or another.  All people have a God-given conscience, all of us have rebelled against our conscience and against God.  We have broken that relationship and are dead in our sins.  Only God Himself can give us new life, and he did that, erasing our sin debt.  

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”  (Colossians 2)

Bob doesn’t need a reincarnated new start to live a perfect life – Jesus has lived it for him!  And neither do we.  Our sinful past is nailed to the cross - God makes us alive with Christ!