The ‘accuser of the brethren’ likes to remind us of our pasts. That’s his job. Title. Deed. Who he is. The thing is, he speaks from a space of delusion and theatre. He tries to guilt us into becoming who we ‘were’, which is the exact opposite of what Jesus does.
When we left behind our old lives—our old selves—when we were crucified along with, and raised into life with Jesus, our new selves were woven together into the same resurrection power that raised Him from the dead:
2 Cor 5:17-18 says, “Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new. And God has made all things new, and reconciled us to himself, and given us the ministry of reconciling others to God.”
The next time the accuser tries to remind us of who we used to be, we can recognise that our old selves died with Jesus and our new selves rose in Him, thus making the accuser’s argument fundamentally nul and void.
This could offend some, but think of a dead, rotting corpse. It looks diseased and just turning to it carries a stench that makes one want to hurl. That is like our old self. The accuser tries to get us to inhabit—to wear—that old self, which would foster any number of emotions or severe responses in us: humiliation, defilement, horror, fear, guilt, shame, and so on. We weren’t designed to walk in oneness—or to identify—with the old self.
There is nothing like focusing on our Heavenly Father’s voice. What He has to say is so worth hearing. He is all about restoration and transformation—both of which He has woven into our beings through the person of Jesus. He has dressed us in Jesus’ righteousness and He has bathed us in His light. Our DNA is imprinted by Him and He remembers our pasts no more.
We are new creatures. The old HAS gone. The new HAS come.
We receive revelation. Wisdom. Knowledge and understanding. We receive forgiveness, love, and the hope of these new days.
We get to mimic our Father and allow our hearts to declare, ‘May it be done on earth as it already is in Heaven.’
We are now life bringers. Healers. Truth speakers. Sons and daughters who walk the earth and remind it of its restoration.
Photo by Adi Goldstein
