Hello friends, welcome back to the series written by Rev. Caleb Su. We pray that you have been blessed with his teaching in a great way.

We have discussed spiritual devotions over the last 3 weeks, let’s discuss The New Creation today.

We commune with God through devotion, we pray and listen to His Word every day. The key word is faith. Once we have a distinct relationship with God, we’ll have a clear understanding of God, ourselves and the things around us.

Man is a relational being. When a person believes in God, the Bible says, “He is a new creation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 clearly states that “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” The word “new” refers not only to the beginning of a new life, but also to the beginning of a new relationship, that the old has gone, and a new relationship has begun! Therefore, we have become a new creation.

We call the bride and groom as “the new couple”. Why do we refer to them as “new couple”? It is not because they wear gowns as bride and groom on their wedding day, but they are entering into a new relationship – from lovers to husband and wife, committed to each other from now on. Similarly, in Christ, the old has gone and the new has begun; we must restructure our relationship. And as we become anew in Christ, we must revise our relationships. Our relationship with God, with man, sin and even with the devil. However, in the process of restructuring, we cannot merely stay at the theoretical level. We have to approach God unswervingly in prayer and experience Him. Let us build a wonderful relationship with Him, the Creator.

Relationship with God

First, let’s talk about our relationship with God.

What kind of relationship do we have with God? In John 1:12, it says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” We must understand clearly that our identity as children of God does not stem from our deeds, kindness or our character. It is God who gives and proclaims us in Christ as forgiven and accepted by Him, thus called the children of God. This is God's favour to us.

God loved us in Christ and sacrificed for us. This love completely transcends time and space. In other words, God loves us at anytime and anywhere with His eternal love. In John 13:1, it says, “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Please take note of the “love them to the end” as an assurance and comfort. Why? Because we do not need to do anything to please God. He simply accepts us unconditionally. Therefore, we should not feel that we are useless and be in despair. Sometimes, in order to protect ourselves, we find reasons to confront others and even blame-shift, to show off how well we have done. Friends, this should not be our conduct.

God accepts us unconditionally, we should accept ourselves unconditionally as well. From now on, let us see ourselves in God’s eyes, do not exalt ourselves because we are created beings. We are to know our standing, but also, do not despise ourselves. Instead we should see ourselves soberly because we are created in the image of God, which is noble.

On the other hand, since we are children of God, how should we respond to His love? Ephesians 5:1-2 say, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” According to the passage, we ought to live out an honourable life and imitate God in our conduct because God gives a new life and we are His children. It is only natural that children resemble their parents and act like their parents. Therefore, we ought to imitate God who is holy and treats us with love, by demonstrating that we are His loving children.

In this way, dear brothers and sisters, let us have self-esteem, love ourselves and in God's love, obey His Word and love others. As we read the following prayer, please check whether or not it resonates with your heart: 

“Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your love to me, and the gift of Your Only Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for my sins. Not only did You love me in the past, You love me now, and You will continue to love me in the future, and to the end of time.

Heavenly Father, I sincerely pray that the Holy Spirit will pour Your love into my heart so that I can love You with Your love, and cherish myself so that I may glorify You. In the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.” If this prayer resonates from the bottom of your heart, please repeat it after me, word-by-word.

Relationship with Man

In addition to the relationship with God, we have relationship with people. The vertical bar of the cross represents the relationship with God and the horizontal bar represents our relationship with man.  The two bars – our relationship with God and with man – constitute the cross. Everyone, including the elderly, children, men, women, the rich and poor, bosses, employees, the noble, the humble, the learned, the illiterate... what is the nature of them? In Genesis 1:27, it says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Everyone has the image of God. This is a characteristic, which is also the essence. We are created from dust and carrying God’s image. This is a finite and changeable essence. Although the image of God was destroyed after man sinned, the image of God does not disappear completely. Basically, man is noble and should be honoured. The reason why man is honoured is not determined by what he has done or does, but it is determined by who he is. He has the image of God and is loved by God. Thus we are to love and honour each other.

Everyone is created by God. As the Bible says in Acts 17:26, “From one man he made all the nations.” In other words, man is from the same origin, hence, a man should help and love each other. But because of sin, the relationship between men and God is ruined. However, as children of God, we love the members of the church as well as everyone. This is mentioned in 2 Peter 1:7. And Romans 12:18 reminds us that “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

We should come before God and pray, and never despise others. Rev. Caleb Su recalled a scene in his childhood. One day, he saw an adult beating a dumb man with a rod. Looking at that scene as he passed by, Rev Su told himself then “that man is too much. How can he beat a dumb man? When I grow up, I will surely stop him from beating the dumb.” Friends, let us honour and love one another, even if a person is dumb, because everyone is honourable. When we pray, we should confess our past wrong-doings to God like this:

“Heavenly Father, due to my ignorance and not knowing that everyone carries Your honourable image, I have despised people and even hurt some of them in the past. Father, please forgive me and I plead You for help so that I could love them with Your great love and care for them, even serve them according to the strength given by You at all costs. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.” Now if this prayer resonates with your heart, please pray along together.

Friends, we are the Lord’s people. We need to revise our relationship with God every day with praise and adoration. As we come to Him, we rectify ourselves instead of allowing sin to creep into the depths of our lives when we fellowship with Him and praise Him. On the other hand, love others, care for our neighbours with the love of God because they are all loved by Him. Let us bear in mind that we are to hate what God hates, and love what He loves. This is spirituality – the manifestation of the Christian life that we should have.

Let us pray together in unison.

Dear Heavenly Father, we are thankful to You and Your manifested love in Christ. You love us and accept us unconditionally. You teach us and take ourselves unconditionally, not to look down on ourselves and feel inferiority. Instead teach us to appreciate ourselves. Heavenly Father, help us learn to see ourselves and others in Your eyes. Let the people around us be blessed and because of our existence that will enable them to gain faith, to get help and support and be affirmed, and come to You for salvation. O God, may you hear our prayer, in the  Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Next week, “The Old Things are Gone, they are All New!” will be the last episode of the series. Please stay tuned.

（Families, greet everyone in Christ for peace. We are collecting suggestions and feedback from family members on the launch of Global Communication APP. Please scan the QR code above to participate, Immanuel!）