I Am New

COMMENTS

There’s always something that I need to confess.  That’s very disappointing.  Perfectionist that I am, it seems that I should LEARN!  Why do I so often have to confess the same thing I confessed yesterday?  If I take the “glass half empty” approach, it’s very discouraging.  But wait!  God says the glass isn’t “half full”—it’s spilling over!

NOTES

It’s true that I disappoint me.  I long to be that servant of God who always hears, always obeys, is always holy and righteous.  The reality, however, is that as long as I am in this body, I will not, cannot be that person.  But, praise God, I am His; and He is at work!  My God is not a God of discouragement.  He is a God of hope and peace and joy and opportunity.  And although I often blow it, He forgives me and gives me another chance…and another…and another…and….  By the blood of Christ, He sees not the sinner but the saint; not the current me but the completed and perfected me.

As He so often does, He spoke this truth to me in a song.  This time it happened to be I Am New by Jason Gray.  Listen with me:

Now I won't deny
The worst you could say about me
But I'm not defined
By mistakes that I've made
Because God says of me

I am not who I was
I am being remade
I am new
I am chosen and holy
And I'm dearly loved
I am new

Who I thought I was
And who I thought I had to be
I had to give them both up
Cause neither were willing
To ever believe

I am not who I was
I am being remade
I am new
I am chosen and holy
And I'm dearly loved
I am new

Too long I have lived
In the shadows of shame
Believing that there
Was no way I could change
But the one who is making everything new
Doesn't see me the way that I do
He doesn't see me the way that I do

I am not who I was
I am being remade
I am new
I am chosen and holy
And I'm dearly loved
I am new

I am not who I was
I am being remade I am new
Dead to the old man, I'm coming alive
I am new

Forgiven beloved
Hidden in Christ
Made in the image of the Giver of Life
Righteous and holy
Reborn and remade
Accepted and worthy, this is our new name

This is who we are now...

Now, that’s a glass that’s overflowing!