Photo by Urban Vintage on Unsplash
I had this statement in my blog of November 4: “The old man is dead. And the new man is here. And there is no way that new man could have any life at all if the old man had not also lived. A conundrum. (Love that word.)”
Many—most?—Christians have come across this concept of being recreated when we invite Jesus Christ to become Lord over all our life. The old man, or the old woman, is dead. That person no longer exists. What exists is a new woman or man, created in the image of God, but hopefully becoming more and more like Jesus every day.
That concept of the “new man” is explored extensively in my new book, Rescuing Hidden Hearts. But in the book, we take that exploration one step further, digging into the concept of the NOW man. That a renewed woman or man is no longer meant to live in the regrets of the past or to live in fear of the future. God’s intention, as written in the Bible, is that we are to live in the fullness of today, where we are right NOW. We are not eternal, like God, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow … forever. As humans, we live only in this day, in the NOW.
Quite some time ago, I had a conversation with some friends about this idea of the NOW man and all its implications. Their points and assertions were valid, and opened to me some different perspectives.
Steven: “You say none of us is eternal … but we are. We have a promise that we will live eternally with God. God knew us before creation, he formed us before the world was formed. There is an eternal path that we are on.”
A French philosopher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, put it this way. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Jerry: “I study near-death experiences. Those people who have near-death experiences all say it is so real, that it feels like being home. It makes the physical realm seem like a dream state. We are eternal beings … everlasting … we have a beginning, but we have no end. But we are not like God, who has no beginning and no end.”
Steven: “We need to take some ownership of the past. I wrestle with the past. It’s part of my story. You say, ‘Just give up your past.’ It’s not that easy. We make choices that impact who we are, or who others are. I have a tough time saying I can separate myself from my past … rectify the past, I don’t disagree with the NOW man, but I can’t release myself from the past. Terry got help from counseling to get released from the past. How are we supposed to go about dealing with those past issues?”
Jerry: “There are two aspects of the past. One is the chains that are holding us back. Terry’s point is that we should not be chained, we need to be free from that. Like that verse from Philippians … ‘for I press on to take hold …’ ”
Jerry: “We’re supposed to have a vision of the hope of the future. Jesus endured the cross for the joy before him … But, the flip side of that, is that God uses the past to help prepare us for what is to come.”
Some interesting meat to chew on. Are we new? Are we NOW? What does "eternal" really mean?
Send me your questions, either in a reply to this post or as an email (terrbrennan@gmail.com). Let's make this blog a discussion group! Thanks
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