The New Creation is Here

“And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.”

~ 2 Corinthians 5:15-21



Our lives are not our own but lives that we live for Christ in his new creation. So many people think that heaven is this magical place that we reach when we die if we were really good and faithful. I can tell you, this is not my experience of heaven. In fact, I think Paul would argue this as well from his writing to the Corinthians above. He says that we are in the new creation now, “the old has gone, the new is here!” It is Christ who brought the new creation to us through his death and resurrection! God reconciled all of the sins through Jesus, they are gone and washed away.

So you might be asking, “Then why does this ‘heaven’ or ‘new creation’ have so much pain? Why does this “heaven” suck?!” Well here’s the thing, the new creation is here. I believe that to be true, however, sin still exists it is just that God has made it so we do not have to pay for our sins. Jesus already did that. So even though we do sin and we will continue to sin God has forgiven us and continues to do so because He loves us so dearly.

If this is the case, then where is heaven? Well I believe heaven is more of an experience and feeling than an actual place. Heaven or the new creation is the experience of living completely for God and in total harmony with Him and His creation. The complete lack of sin. This to me is heaven. Of course, sin is what breaks that relationship with God and keeps us from achieving heaven.

So how do we achieve this heaven? Well Paul gives us pretty good instructions in his letter to the Corinthians, “be reconciled to God.” Yeah, I know a pretty general answer and probably overly simplified. But if you think about it, if we really truly reconcile with God, completely accept His grace and trust in Him with our lives then we do not sin. We do not break relationship with him because we have complete and total faith. Now I know this is much easier said than done. I myself struggle in my faith all the time! And due to our imperfections we will never be able to completely give ourselves to Jesus and turn over all of our trust, at least in this life. The sin is just to strong. But we can fight it and work towards it.

Again Paul gives us some hints when he says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” We are His hands and feet out in the world. He wants us out there serving His people as He did with Jesus and continues to do through His blessings. And this is where it gets really fun! It is through this, through the lens of being God’s hands and feet that we accomplish heaven. When you completely give of yourself without asking for anything in return, when you listen and care for those less fortunate, not because you have to but because you get to, when you are God’ ambassador out in the world you are in full relationship with God. For a brief moment sin has no control over you and you are not breaking that relationship with God, rather you are fueling it and making it deeper. It is in these experiences of service that I have personally felt a small piece of heaven and I have witnessed it in our students as well. When we serve out of our hearts and not out of our duty we reconcile with God, we accept His love and we choose to share it with others and He works through that and our relationship with Him. It is amazing!

This is what our summer to come is going to be all about. We are going to discover the new creation that came with Jesus. The new creation that has been here for 2011 years. We are going to show this world this new creation and bring a new found life into His creation with our love and by His grace!