PODCAST
A New Teenager
October 20th, 2017
2 Corinthians 5:11-21
I came home from church one night in 1981. I walked in and told my parents I loved them. I then went to my room. My mom and dad were amazed: “Jonathan never says, ‘I love you.’ What’s up with this kid?” The angry teen was changed. I was not the same. I gave my life to God at a church service as my grandfather prayed with me. I was new. I was starting over.
“I’m not the person I used to be!” The apostle Paul could say this. His old life as a persecutor of Christians was history. Proclamation of new life as an ambassador of grace was now his theme. Instead of approving of -hrowing mobs, he now threw out words of reconciliation and encouragement (2 Corinthians 5). Jesus, whom he once fought against, was now the One he would fight and die for.
New life on the inside brings a new walk on the outside. Living the holy life is only possible if our hearts are genuinely changed. Jesus makes this change possible: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Author: Jonathan Trees
