Col 3:9-10
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him KJV
In this passage, the apostle Paul is telling the Christians of Colossae that because they are new creations, they should also act accordingly. He is also showing us one of the amazing secrets about the new creation.
The new creation, the new man (the new you), is made new by the knowledge “he” has concerning the image of God and that the knowledge of God that we have of God must align with the reality of Who God is and how He thinks and lives.
Paul also contrasts how we were while we were our old selves, before we were born again.
Paul’s idea of the new birth was that it literally changed us. Our lives, actions, thought processes, should all be different now as a “new man”.
This shows that being born again should change us in such a way that we are truly new people.
Even more, it shows that what we were changed into (in our spirit) should cause our everyday
“physical” life to change as well.
Most people see the new birth as “wiping the slate clean”, “starting over”, or simply as forgiveness and the chance or right to go to heaven when they die.
While all of those things are true, they are not the purpose for which we were recreated.
We were re-created to serve the purpose of God here on the earth. Our “eternal life” doesn’t start after we physically die. It starts the moment we get re-created. Many, if not most, Christians put most of the benefits of the New Birth off until they “get to heaven”.
Heaven is not where you need many of the benefits of the New Birth. You will not need power over sickness and disease in heaven. There is no sickness or disease in heaven. God’s will is being done there perfectly and constantly. Which also proves that God’s will is healing and health. If God’s will included sickness and disease, then heaven should be full of them.
Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Our job is to fix earth until it looks like it would look in heaven.
When you see a sick person, you should know that God wants you to go to them and “fix” them.
They wouldn’t look like that or be in that condition in heaven, so it’s not God’s will that they be that way on earth.
To be able to walk up to a person and fix them, like Jesus did, you must have the correct image of God and you must have the correct image of who you are now that you are a new creation.
Man was made in God’s image and likeness at the beginning.
Gen 1:26-27
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. KJV
That image and likeness was marred when Adam turned the world over to satan.
Luke 4:5-7
5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. KJV
When Adam turned the world over to satan, satan became the god of this world.
2 Cor 4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. KJV
When Adam submitted to satan, he took on the a new nature. He took on the nature of his new “god”, satan. Since that time every person born into this world has taken on the nature of the god of this world, satan.
When we get born again, we take on the nature of the one after which we were recreated, Jesus.
This new nature is in our spirit. Because we have lived by the old nature for so long, we have developed habits of action and thoughts that are wired into our brains.
These old ways of thinking and doing things are so “normal” to us that we tend to think that we are still that way and that nothing has changed in our lives. The reality is that those patterns of thought and action are simply habits we have developed that must be changed.
This is why we are told that we must have our minds renewed. We could also say that we must re-wire our brains. We must construct new habits of thought and speech and action. These new habits must line up with the Word of God. In fact, we must use the Word of God to re-wire our brains.
According to Romans 12:2, the ONLY way we can have our lives transformed to be what they were meant to be is by renewing our minds. This can be a long or shortened process based upon the approach we take to accomplish it.
If we rely upon the “go to church on Sunday and listen for 30 minutes” approach, the process will take the rest of your life and even then you will likely never experience the freedom and power you were created to walk in. (This is the path most people take.)
However, if you decide to renew your mind as quickly as possible, you will likely be seen as strange, and possibly even cultish. The reason for this is that it is so unusual for a person to be that committed to change. You can see the same response from people when their loved ones decide to get off drugs or radically change their eating behaviors. The difference is that average people are glad when their loved ones want to get off drugs because they know the damage drugs do. But your loved ones may respond differently when they think that you are “going too far” with “religion”. This is similar to what was seen in the movie, “The Matrix” a few years ago. Most people do not realize that the physical world is a polluted and distorted version of the spiritual realm and that it is the spiritual realm from which we were meant to operate.
You will see some of the same type of reactions if you enlisted in the military. Generally, people are proud of you for entering the military, even if they cannot understand why you want to do it.
They know the rigorous discipline you will undergo to become a “soldier”. When you return from basic training, you will look different, walk different, talk different, because you will be different, mainly because you will think different.
Renewing the mind is to make you think different. Renewing the mind is actually learning to think like Jesus.
1 Cor 2:16 KJV
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Because people have heard for so long that God’s thoughts are above our thoughts and His ways are above our ways, many have built up a stronghold in their mind that they cannot think the thoughts of God.
That scripture (plus many others) tell us that we can and should think the thoughts of God because we have the mind of Christ. This is just one example of the current state of the church. When we start renewing our minds and start thinking the thoughts of Jesus, we will think totally different.
In Jesus’ mind, there was no possibility of failure or lack. He never even considered whether He had enough power or enough of the Spirit, or enough “anointing”. He just knew what His Father, God, was like. Because He knew the heart and mind of God, He just went around doing good, healing ALL that were oppressed of the devil. He never even had to pray about whether or not to heal someone. He always knew that it was ALWAYS God’s will to heal.
The real secret to power that Jesus knew was to keep himself single-minded. He knew to stay focused on the Kingdom and on his mission.
The new creation is a radically new way of living. If you are a new creation you were created to live the exact kind of life Jesus lived. He was always bout His Father’s business.
There is such freedom in living the Jesus kind of life. No worry, no fear, no lack. Just peaceful resting in Christ and in the knowledge and faith that He would not lie even if He could.
Living life as a new creation is truly the best kind of life. Sure there can be trials and tribulations.
But just as Jesus said, He has overcome and so shall we if we remain in peace and faith and not allow ourselves to get caught up in the pressures and activities of the moment.
Our life is hid in Christ. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
As we continue to dig into the realities of this new life, begin to live a life of constant gratitude to God. Even when there are problems, don’t change your attitude or your state of mind.
Take a breath and just remember, others have gone through similar trials and have remained steadfast.
If we continue in well-doing, we shall receive the reward of faithfulness.