“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are

passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Change can be a wonderful thing when it is right - a new house, a

new car, a new hairdo, a new baby, a new coat, etc. But there is

nothing to compare with becoming a new creation in the Lord Jesus

Christ. What a change we experience when we get saved - a new

hope, a new outlook, a new standard (the Bible), a new attitude, a

new life, a new Father, etc.

Remember when we got saved, how exciting it was to find out, that

when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we were received as a

son and made a part of God’s family. “But as many as received him,

to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that

believe on his name” (John 1:12). We changed from being a child of

the Devil to being a child of God.

As we read the Bible, we are filled with great interest; when we read

about those who received Christ and whose salvation was

accompanied with great personal change. There is the man of the

country of the Gadarenes, who lived alone, wild and naked among the

tombs, never in his right mind. Then he met Jesus, and he was

miraculously changed - clothed, in his right mind, sitting with Christ

and given the responsibility to preach about Christ. (Mark 5:1-19).

Then there was Zacchaeus the greedy publican, who got saved. And

then, he gave half of his goods to the poor and returned fourfold to

those from whom he had falsely taken (Luke 19:1-10). And what

about Saul, the enemy of Christians, who was saved and became the

Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, and the great missionary of

the book of Acts. Truly, when God saves the sinner, God changes the

sinner; “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become

new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We can’t see the indwelling of the Holy Spirit or feel it take place

when we are born again. But we are told by the highest authority, that

we will see the evidence of real salvation, just as we see the changes

that arise from the wind. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be

born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the

sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it

goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8).

-CAR