Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! – 2 Corinthians 5:17
We live in a world that celebrates self-improvement. Bookstores are lined with shelves of “how-to” guides that promise a better marriage, a better attitude, or even a better you. And the truth is, many of those books can help us kick a bad habit or learn new skills. But here’s the problem: none of them deal with the root of the issue – our sin.
If all Jesus wanted was to make us more polite or more productive, He never would have gone to the cross. Think about that. If the goal of Christianity was simply to help us manage life better, God could have sent a teacher, a motivator, or a life coach. But He didn’t. He sent a Savior.
That’s because our greatest problem isn’t that we’re not “good enough.” Our problem is that we are spiritually dead apart from Christ. Dead people don’t need better habits – they need life! And only the cross provides that.
The danger for us as believers is that we sometimes slip into treating Christianity like it’s just another self-help program. We work hard at cleaning ourselves up, hoping others will notice how “together” we look. But God isn’t impressed with self-improvement projects. He’s after transformation. And transformation only comes when we surrender – when we stop trying to polish the old self and let Christ create something entirely new in us.
Paul said it best: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Do you see what he’s saying? The Christian life isn’t about becoming a better version of me. It’s about the old me dying, so that Christ Himself might live through me.
That’s far more demanding than just “trying harder.” It means giving God access to every corner of our hearts. It means trusting Him with our failures and our successes. It means we stop playing religious games and pretending to be good, and instead allow Him to break us, remake us, and reshape us into the image of His Son.
Self-help makes us proud of what we’ve accomplished. Salvation makes us humble because of what Christ has accomplished. That’s the difference. And until we embrace that difference, we’ll never experience the true power of the cross.
So here’s the challenge: are you just trying to be a “better person”? Or are you letting Jesus make you a new creation?
Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law’s demands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.
Augustus Toplady – Rock of Ages (1776)
Former Blackout Artist 