“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.
Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, o virgin of Israel!” (Jer. 31:3b-4a, NASB) At this point in the history of Israel, I
would not describe them as “virgin.”
They had prostituted themselves to other gods for a very long time; yet,
God’s love declared them so! Only He has
the ability to take someone who is so tarnished, soiled, and stained and make
them new. Not like new, but new!
In our human relationships someone may sin
against us, and we may forgive them, but it seems in the back of our minds
there is a constant reminder of that sin.
“If I’m not careful and I let my guard down, they might hurt me
again. I can’t let that happen.” I’m sure you have possibly thought this
before. This is how we think toward
someone who may be “like new.” It is
always a wait and see if they revert back to their old ways. “New,” however, is unstained, untarnished,
and clean; in other words, a virgin.
When God changes us from sinner to saint, He does not clean us up and
make us like new, He crucifies the old and replaces it with the new. We become in all sense of the word,
“virgins.”
As a counselor, I talk to many Christians
about their struggles. There is one
thing that is common to every Christian I have ever talked to: regret. Not one person was proud of their sinful
behavior. If given the chance, every one
of them would undo what they had done if they could go back and redo their
life. I get excited when I hear their
regret! I ask them, “did you just hear
what you said?” Of course, they look at
me like I’m crazy (as you may be thinking now).
I remind them of who they really are; they are new. If you are an old sinner, your true desire
would be for sin. People don’t become
sinners because they sin, they are born that way. Sinners sin because they are sinners by
nature. A cow doesn’t become a cow by
mooing, it moos because it is a cow! The
good news for the believer is “your true desire is for righteousness!” That is why this conflict produces so much
struggle. The believer wants to produce
righteous behavior, but finds themselves producing unrighteousness at times.
A Christian is a creature with a righteous
nature put there by God through Christ.
However, that righteous nature dwells in an “earth suit” that was once
the home of a sinner. That old earth
suit has been programmed to “sin,” but through the power of Christ in us, He
can overcome the flesh and the law of sin (Gal. 3:20; 5:24; Rom. 8:2). The enemy tempts believers to look at our
sinful behavior and make identity judgments based on what we see, instead of
listening to the Holy Spirit in us, Who is constantly reminding us that we are
more than our choices. If we truly
believe what God says about us, we will find our behavior reflecting our
righteous natures.
What a glorious day to be completely set free
from the old, and to be made new. Do you
as a believer understand that is what God has done to you? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away;
behold, new things have come.” (NASB) If
you are a believer, you have been given the gift of life, God’s life. Get over the feelings that you don’t deserve
this great gift, accept it, live in it!
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly!” (John 10:10b, NASB)
