Scars of the New Jesus People - Forgiveness & Offense

One of the great promises of this gospel we have received is this; "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5.17). Our old nature, and our union with the world, is dead. "Our old self was crucified with Him" (Romans 6.6). And the new person, who is joined in union to Christ, is alive! "If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness" (Romans 8.10).

The very nature and Spirit of Jesus now lives inside anyone who believes that Jesus is who He says He is. 1 John 4.17 says, “…just as He is, so are we in this world." So whatever we see of Jesus in the Scriptures, and revealed by the Holy Spirit, is what He intends us to become and demonstrate to the world. That’s the bedrock truth of our new identity.

But the reality of walking this out in real time, in a fallen world where the kingdom has come but it still yet to come, where our lives intersect with others, where our flesh still has a voice, where we are still in the process of maturing and being conformed to the image of Jesus…the reality of actually being who Jesus says WE are is a bit more complex.