Fixed or New?

I’ve been returning to a well lately that I come to every so often for refreshment. Like Bill Johnson says, highlight the areas in your Bible where you return to time and time again for water. For me, I’m always refreshed by meditating on the truth that we are not fixed people, but new people. As I like to say, God’s not a mechanic, He’s a Creator. Jim White talked about it a little tonight, and boy was it good!

Jesus didn’t come to fix me, He came to make me new. I run into problems when I try to fix my old man which is meant to die.

Are we treating people like they are new, with no past and only a bright future? Or are we treating people like they are fixed, with the potential that they will break again?

The old man is fueled by the expectations of others. We keep it alive and instead of killing it so it doesn’t smell bad anymore, we try and make it beautiful. Spray extra cologne to help over the stench, when in reality the beauty we bestow upon it will eventually leave but the stench will remain long after it is gone.

One of the main areas I’ve been feeling strongly about this is in the area of purity. I’ve heard some people say that because they have not had sex before they are married, they feel like they deserve someone who also remained a virgin until marriage and thus, will not entertain being with people who’ve lost their virginity. I don’t share that opinion. Wow, I could miss an amazing woman if I think that way! Besides that, there isn’t such thing as a virgin apart from the new man. My Bible says that if any man looks at a woman (or vice versa) with lust, he’s already had sex. We are actually body, soul, and spirit and if one part sins, it infects every other part. The sin that condemns because you lusted is equal in damnable power as committing fornication.

So the truth is there are no true virgins in the old man, but there is with the new!

If you are redeemed, washed in the blood, saved from your sins, born again (I feel a preach coming on lol) then God has restored you and there is no past! In other words, you are a virgin not because in your past life you had sex, but in this present life of being redeemed God has restored your virginity in every way.

This is not to undervalue those who have not had physical sex. It’s absolutely amazing to meet someone who gets married that has kept themselves pure in that way. Thus far I’m one of those virgins in that definition and will be that on my wedding day as well. However, I could care less if my future wife has slept with guys before – she’s been restored. Even if she stumbled after she became a Christian. God restores even after salvation! She is a virgin, through and through! Let her walk down that aisle with the whitest of dresses, because that virgin is getting married! It’s like turning back the clock without traveling in time, the mystery of restoration!

In reality, this is what Jesus has done for us. He took the adulterous bride that we were and restored us. He treats us without memory of our former adulteries, even though we cheated on Him. So let’s treat people like they are brand new – because really, they are!