New Creation

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
As believers, are we to just ignore the past and press forward even if we have been sexually or physically abused? In Philippians three, Paul talks about forgetting those things that are behind, but in context he is talking about his victories not his defeats.
        Part of having all things become new is that the cross sheds a new light not only before us, but upon our past. There is a dangerous assumption in the Church that somehow emotional health and spiritual maturity can be separated. Sometimes our inability to move beyond sinful behavior patterns is a direct result of some unhealed part of our past. The result is broken relationships, addictions and recurring sins
        Those unhealed parts can be like a ticking time bomb—something the enemy will suddenly set off in our lives to destroy our effectiveness, our witness and our confidence before God.
        Our prayer should be, “Lord help us to grow up before we grow too old”. As one Believer put it, “I was a Christian for twenty-two years; but instead of being a twenty-two-year-old Christian, I was a one-year-old Christian twenty-two times! I just kept doing the same things over and over and over again.”
Christian formation is absolutely central. We are never called to ignore the past; we need to apply the cross to all of it, realizing that it may take some real time and effort—and help from others.
We are a new creation in Christ. Babies are also new, but they are not grownup. Our old way of living is gone—our new life is to grow up into the freedom that Christ gives us.
-Pastor Dino Griffin