Verse of the Day and Devotional 3/21/2024

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by Bible League International

Narrated by Artificial Intellegence – Andrew

March 21st, 2024

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Scripture,

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! – 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NIV

Devotion,

Although it may not always look like it, something radical happened when we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. What we once were no longer truly characterizes what we are now. Once we were characterized by the “flesh,” the Apostle Paul’s metaphor for the sinful spiritual state of individual human beings. Living according to the flesh is to live according to the old sinful state of life apart from Christ. Now that we are “in Christ,” however, the flesh does not properly characterize what we have become. Indeed, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). The flesh, in other words, died with Christ at the cross.

Further, since we are in Christ, what we once were not only died with Him at the cross, but what we are now was raised to life with Him. We have been made alive with Christ (Colossians 2:13). We are, therefore, new creatures. The old person that once characterized us is gone and the new person we are in Christ is here. This does not mean that we no longer sin, but it does mean that the old sinful spiritual state is no longer adequately descriptive of what we have truly become. The old sinful spiritual state no longer defines us.

From Paul’s perspective, all this means that we should no longer regard those who are in Christ from “a worldly point of view.” We should no longer define fellow Christians according to what they may seem like on occasion, but according to what they truly are in Christ. At one time Paul even regarded Christ from a worldly point of view. Now, however, we should no longer make that mistake, because it totally mischaracterizes Christ and the people who are in Christ.

We should also not regard ourselves from a worldly point of view. Although at times we may fail and not live up to everything we truly are in Christ, we should never lose our faith in Paul’s proclamation that “the new is here!”

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