(Receiving the New Creation, Resting in the Faithfulness of Christ)

We may recognize the beginning of new life in Christ while remaining painfully aware of familiar fears, desires, and habits. Chambers directs our attention toward the fullness of God’s renewing purpose. Spurgeon invites us to rest our confidence in the Saviour whose faithfulness sustains us along the way.

The New Life Has Its Source in God

Chambers writes:

“When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life.” (My Utmost for His Highest)

The new birth begins with what God gives. Jesus describes that birth as proceeding from spirit, distinguishing it from what flesh can produce (John 3:6). Natural determination cannot originate the life received through Him.

Paul likewise places the new creation in Christ and immediately directs attention to God, who has reconciled us to Himself through His Son (2 Corinthians 5:17–18). The believer’s hope begins in that divine provision.

The Holy Spirit operates upon the human spirit, bringing forth a new, responsive nature. Through the Son, we are brought into communion with the Father, and the life revealed in Jesus begins to find expression in us.

This reaches deeper than changing a few outward habits. The old life claims the right to direct itself, secure itself, and establish its own sufficiency. The life of sonship receives its direction and strength from the Father.

As that life takes expression, familiar situations become occasions for a different response. We begin to receive correction where we once defended ourselves. We acknowledge weakness where we once concealed it. Love becomes possible where self-interest had governed our attention.

These changes bear witness to grace already at work.

Trusting While the Work Remains Unfinished

Spurgeon asks:

“When your soul has simply trusted Jesus, have you ever been confounded?” (Morning and Evening)

His question turns our attention from the unevenness of our experience toward the faithfulness of Christ.

We can become so occupied with examining our progress that we lose sight of the One by whom we live. A recurring struggle may lead us to question everything God has given. We may imagine that assurance must wait until we can present a sufficiently changed life.

Yet the believer continues to depend upon the same Saviour through whom life was first received.

Scripture’s assurance that those who believe on Him will not be confounded establishes the reliability of that trust (1 Peter 2:6). It does not promise freedom from disappointment, grief, or unanswered questions. Our expectations may require correction even while Christ remains faithful.

Trust allows us to bring the unfinished places into His light.

Chambers’s expectation of the old life’s disappearance must also be held within Scripture’s account of our present condition. John warns against claiming that we have no sin and directs believers who fail toward their advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 1:8–2:2). The final freedom from corruption belongs to the resurrection hope described in 1 Corinthians 15.

We can therefore receive correction without despair and anticipate completion without pretending it has already arrived.

Remaining Open to the Life We Receive

God’s renewing purpose gives us hope for change. Christ’s faithfulness gives us confidence to remain before the Father while that change unfolds.

We need not make a familiar failure the final verdict upon our lives. Neither need we protect it from the searching of Scripture. Through Christ, we can confess it honestly and remain responsive to grace.

This morning, there may be one place where self-direction has become especially clear: a fear we keep trying to control, a grievance we continue to rehearse, or a desire to establish our worth through another person’s approval.

We can bring that place before the Father through His Son.

The life He gives carries the character of Jesus: trust, love, and willing responsiveness to the Father. Our hope for its fuller expression rests in the One who has brought us into communion with Himself. We remain receivers, learning to live from the grace that began the work.