A New Creation

13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. (1 Cor. 15)Paul tells us that our faith is useless without the resurrection. If we stop to think about that in light of the cross where Jesus died for our sins, we would think that this statement almost diminishes the work of the cross. What I failed to realize early in my walk with Christ is the personal significance of the resurrection of Christ. I thought that the resurrection was only to prove that Jesus was different and because his grave was empty, it set Him apart from all other leaders claiming to know the way to God. This is true, but the resurrection has a personal significance to each one of us that I think is often missed because we obsess about and focus on the sin problem...our eyes are on what we do or don't do--not on who we are in Christ. We were born into this world spiritually dead. Adam died spiritually. His spiritual union with God was lost because of sin. Our need coming into this world is not only for forgiveness--we have a need for life--the life Adam lost in the garden. And that is what Jesus provides for us in His resurrection--LIFE! Spiritual Life. This is the abundant life. The abundant life is not that we get lots of stuff and our circumstances are always wonderful....the Abundant Life is Jesus's Life in us. Jesus said in John 14:20, "2On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." This is a spiritual reality! If you look at this verse, it shows that we are joined to Jesus Christ inseparably! The day he was talking about was the day, the church was born on Pentecost. Because Jesus ascended into heaven, and sin was removed once for all, God could now live in and with man once again. God took away that which He could not tolerate or dwell with. Now that sin has been removed, He could birth a new creation. Our new birth is where God crucified the old you (a spiritual reality) and raised up with Christ a brand new person....the new creation.....the new person that you are is perfect...sealed with the Holy Spirit, joined to Christ, and not touched by sin. This is a spiritual reality...The problem is that this new person lives in a sin cursed body in a sin cursed world that is falling apart filled with lies that prevent us from understanding just what the New Creation is all about.