At the core of Christianity is the concept of renewal. Indeed, this is more than just a mere concept; it is a reality every born-again Christian experiences. Today, on the brink of another new year, our thoughts go once more into what this means personally for us, and we would surmise, for every Christian.
When Christ was with us(humanity) on Earth, He taught us a lot about the Kingdom of God and a renewed relationship with our Creator within that Kingdom. Our renewed identity as Christians is not just something on the surface or found in one aspect but deep and enveloping. The Bible describes it in many ways. As a new birth, new heart, new strength, and new spirit. God intends and plans for His people to always progress toward a future of hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
The word renewal has close connotations with another term, regeneration. In principle, regeneration means to generate or to live again. In short, to live a new life. God regenerates us, making us spiritually alive through our faith in Christ, and then we live a life of continuous renewal through that faith.
At the center of the Gospel message is God working to restore fellowship with humankind and all creation, once separated from Him by sin and disobedience. This work by God stems from one of His central character traits, love. His love is the motivating force that moves to unite us with Him and our brethren. It brings salvation and eternal life and blesses us with His relationship and grace. In the process, God promises renewal at every point of our being and life.
We cannot achieve this kind of renewal on our own. Jesus made it possible at Calvary with His great sacrifice on our behalf. Through that sacrifice, Christ establishes a new covenant between God and us and opens the way to God’s blessing to all who believe. Through our faith in Christ and that new covenant, we gain a new self that looks more like the humanity God always intended, pure and unblemished, filled with righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24).
Our new selves relate to God through Christ in a new and living way. We are not yet perfect, yet there is progressive growth in love, joy, and peace as we seek, find, and follow Christ. This, in essence, is what it means to carry the name of someone who belongs to Christ.
From our renewed identity comes many other renewals. But it does not end there. The culmination of the whole of this is a new heaven and new earth (2 Peter 3:13). Our renewal is not just a reformed worldview or orientation in life, significant though that may be. It is a preparation for something greater in our futures. One day, God will complete His work to its full extent. We will receive new incorruptible resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15:52) that will live forever with God in that new Kingdom.
Long ago, just after the Creation, God had made humankind as He had originally intended. We were made perfect, and our purpose was to have a relationship with God that was so intimate it was like father and child.
Just recently, we celebrated Christmas. We know that Christ came that first time so that He could establish a new covenant between God and us. This new covenant through Christ is part of a deep, enduring, and sustained plan by God to return all of creation back to its original design. And in that plan, God has always kept us in His mind.
One day Christ Jesus will bring the plan to culmination and completion. And even the physical will be as they were in the Garden. What we read in Revelation is an echo, a re-creation of that first paradise in Genesis. But this time, it will be on a grander scale, one able to accommodate all the people over the centuries who have embraced Christ and received eternal life.
As we usher in a new year and all thoughts turn to renewal, let us as Christians hold on unwaveringly to our hope and look to that most significant of God’s promises for we know He is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).
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