Are You a Jeep or a Rolls Royce?

“Behold, all things have become NEW!” We like New. It is a great selling point in advertising! When we buy something new, we want to keep it new for as long as possible. Maybe after it gets old, we will let someone borrow it or care less about it. In Christ, however, we are daily renewed (2Cor.4:16).


In China, I had a Beijing Jeep that I took to the mountains. It was banged up, muddied and splattered quite a bit, but it never bothered me because that is what it was for. Such was our old nature before Christ. It didn't bother us much to be selfish or to revel in the filth of sin.

However, if I somehow and miraculously was given a shiny new Rolls Royce, the last place I would want to take it is into the mountains! I would hate the thought of any mud spot or the tiniest dent appearing on the vehicle. Even if it could handle some of the rougher roads, I just wouldn't want to take it there. That's not what it is for. Thus it is with our new nature, which is infinitely worth more than a Rolls Royce.

Most Christians have not been given a new Rolls Royce, but they have been given a new nature! Yet they don't really believe this and continue living as if they still carry the old.

The point of this is that God's love and grace in Christ is the antidote against sin. He changed us. Done! It is in the relationship, and the realizing of what we have become in Christ, that the desire for sin is eliminated, at least generally speaking. It would not be realistic to say that there is no more battle. But it is in resting in grace and the knowledge of the truth that there is freedom. These things are the beginning, and we have yet to discuss the power of the Holy Spirit and His work in the believer's life.


Has the church approached sin the wrong way, constantly pointing the finger, threatening, and condemning without focusing on the correct remedy? Or on the other hand, has it not said anything about sin, leaving no opportunity to learn more experientially the infinite value of the Savior, His blood, and the chance to grow in GRACE?