Carrying On Living in Newness

[HKHaugan]

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2Cor.5:17 NIV).”

As we continue looking at this whole idea of newness we want to begin with the realization that anyone who accepts Him into his or her life is experiencing something new. It is a newness that comes from how we all started in the first place, in the spirit. Our origin is spiritual because God is spiritual. We begin to have spiritual vision first as opposed to physical vision. Our bodies were spiritually created so we look at ourselves, and everything around us, from a spiritual perspective. Our deepest longings are really spiritual by nature. They are the unseen qualities that all of us know inside make up what it means to be alive. We look to our Creator because those qualities are His design for us.

All the qualities of God are His newness happening newly everyday. Take love for instance. Love is not something we get and have a dose of and then sit back and enjoy. Love is the quality of God that is always producing something new. Trust, belief and faith are qualities of God that are always producing something new. The fruit of the Spirit---love, joy, peace and so on---are always producing something new. The gifts of the Spirit are always producing something new. Every aspect of the nature of God is always producing something new for us. The Holy Spirit is always taking us into new events and overcoming sin in the process since sin is what blocks the newness that God wants for us.

Being a disciple of Jesus is to follow Jesus as opposed to being sinfully self-conscious. Discipline is the way of being a disciple. Discipline is learning to recognize sin, its subtlety, its focus and its source. Discipline is allowing one’s self to be shaped by the Word. Discipline is keeping the person of Jesus before us through His teachings, miracles and consciousness of His presence. Discipline is repenting, saying we’re sorry for trying to control instead of following the Spirit’s leading. Discipline is opening the mind, heart and spirit to the potential that freedom in Christ offers. Discipline is not putting one’s self into a straight jacket of carefully guarded behavior. Discipline is not closing down what you believe and feel. It’s the determination to open up. Discipline is designed to put us on the path to discovering what real newness is. Discipline is following the nudging of the Spirit through the Word. Discipline is our study and practice of spiritual gifts in the fruit of the Spirit.

Discipline is not a one-way experience. The amazing thing about discipline is that the Holy Spirit is always there to empower us. We have help, God’s direct help. When we start our life in Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who convicts, comforts, encourages us as He brings the mind and heart of Jesus into our mind and heart. He is the personal gift of Jesus to everyone who believes in Him. Therefore, unlike secular disciplines, a disciple is never alone. Discipline starts by letting the Holy Spirit embrace you. He is the Spirit of newness. “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (2Cor.5:5 NIV).”