His Heart, My Home

So you prayed sincerely from your heart to receive God’s love-gift, His Son, Jesus, as your Savior and Lord. At the moment you prayed that prayer, committing your life to Him, you may have had strong feelings, or a flood of emotions, or possibly, you felt nothing at all. It doesn’t matter. Feelings have nothing to do with your salvation. You’re not saved because you feel saved. You’re saved because God’s Word says you’re saved!

Here’s an example: Someone says to you, “I just deposited $1000 in your bank account”. How do you know they actually made that deposit? Do you feel any richer? At that moment, you may not, but your feelings are immaterial. If your benefactor’s word is good, you believe what they told you. You thank them for their generosity, even though you still haven’t seen your bank statement showing your new account balance.

Your salvation is based on God’s Word, not your feelings, and not your emotions. Your new eternal reality is that you have been radically, totally, completely saved. You have been changed by God’s love, mercy, and grace, and now you have a living relationship with Him! You have been born again! Congratulations! Welcome to God’s Family!

Warning: You will probably encounter some well-meaning, but mistaken people who will want to give you a spiritual “TO DO” list, to “help” you get enough points to “get to the next level”. They imply that you’re not really saved till you “do this, and do that”.

In Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message Bible) Jesus says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

The new birth is not becoming a “better” person, or “turning over a new leaf”, or “keeping the Sabbath”, or obeying the Ten Commandments, or receiving sacraments, or water baptism, or going to church, or reading your Bible, or saying prayers. Salvation is not a DIY (do-it-yourself) project.

Salvation is a free gift Jesus purchased for you, with His blood, His suffering, His death, His burial, and His resurrection. Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished!” There is nothing you can do to add to His completed redemptive work. He did it all, and you have received your salvation through faith in Him. Jesus didn’t give you a “TO DO” list. He gave you an “I DID ALL THIS FOR YOU” list! That list is called the New Covenant. It describes your new-birth inheritance.

In attempting to explain the new birth, people sometimes use the example of a caterpillar being transformed by nature into a butterfly. This is an uplifting thought, and a nice image for a scripture plaque to hang on the wall, but it”s not an accurate description of the salvation-miracle you received in at the time of your new birth. When a caterpillar wraps itself in the cocoon, then emerges as a butterfly, it still has the same DNA… caterpillar DNA. The caterpillar has simply become a “flying caterpillar.” But the new birth is different. It is a radical change of your inward nature, your spiritual DNA.

According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

There are two Greek words which are translated as “new” in the New Testament. The first word, “neos”, refers to something that has just been made, but there are already many others in existence just like it. (Example: “I just got a new I-Phone.”) Nice, but nothing radically new about that… newly made, just off the assembly line, but only one among millions, nothing special or unique. Nice, but “neos”! Meh!

But the word translated as “new” in our verse,
(2 Corinthians 5:17) is the Greek word “kainos”, which means, “fresh; unprecedented; of a new kind.”

Just as God created the heavens and the earth originally… uniquely constructing something that never existed before, He also did with you spiritually in the new birth. In Christ, you were made an entirely new creation. He did not merely clean up your old self. If that was all He did for us, we would just jump right back in the same old mud-hole of sin, again and again. * Rather, He made you an entirely new self… a “brand new YOU!” The “New You” no longer enjoys sin. The “New You” has a righteous nature, and wants to know, love, worship, serve, and please God.

• P.S. If you do slip into the sin-slophole again, don’t wallow in it! Confess it, repent, and let God clean you back up. (1 John 1:9)

The Bible says the “New You” is one spirit with the Lord. (1 Corinthians 6:17) As a Christian, God sees your new life as being “in Christ”. In Christ, you are a “partaker of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Jesus Himself, in the person of His Holy Spirit, takes up residence in your heart. You are in Christ and He is in you. Wow! That’s a radical change!

No wonder the angels are rejoicing in heaven right now, celebrating your new birth! Go ahead!
Join them! It’s your party! Live it up! (Luke 15:10)