Repair or replace?

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. v. 17 NKJV

It was time to fix the trim on the windows of our house. So I scraped, sanded, and applied wood filler to get the aging trim ready for paint. After all of my efforts — including a coat of primer and some too-expensive paint — the trim looks, well, pretty good. But it doesn’t look new. The only way to make the trim look new would be to replace the old wood.

It’s okay to have weather-damaged window trim that looks “pretty good” to our eye. But when it comes to our sin-damaged hearts, it’s not enough to try to fix things up. From God’s point of view, we need all things to become new (2 Cor. 5:17).

#Salvation is a beautiful gift that comes with #faith in Jesus.

That is the beauty of salvation through faith in Jesus. He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sin and rose from the dead to display His power over sin and death. The result is that in God’s eyes, faith in Christ’s work makes us a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17) and replaces the old with a “new life” (Acts 5:20). Looking through Jesus and His work on the cross for us, our heavenly Father sees everyone who has put his or her faith in Him as new and unblemished.

Sin has caused great damage. We can’t fix it ourselves. We must trust Jesus as Savior and let Him give us a brand-new life.

Heavenly Father, I understand that sin has damaged my heart. I put my trust in the Savior’s sacrifice and ask You to wash away my sins and make me a new person. Thank You for what Jesus did for me.

READ: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Only Jesus can give you a new life.

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 22-23 and Titus 1