All things being equal, if someone was offered the choice of being given a new car or a used car, most individuals would choose the new one. The same would probably be true that most of us would prefer to live in a new house, have a new computer, wear new clothes, watch a new movie on our new home theater system and carry a new iPhone. That does not mean that we would not accept and be satisfied with a used and older car, house, computer, clothes, movie, TV or phone, but if we had a choice then a new one would be our preference.
When you decided to obey the gospel and become a Christian, what kind of life were you offered? Were you offered a “used” life that was a little old, a little worn, a bit dinged up in a few places, and perhaps even inoperative in some of its originally promised features? While that was not the life offered to us, would you have been satisfied with it? As Christians, we do not deserve what we have, so if the Lord wanted to give us, upon our obedience to the gospel plan of salvation, a life that had already been used by someone else and was being passed on to us, even that would be much more than our sinful souls would be worthy of receiving.
Amazingly, our God is not satisfied with giving us the leftovers or the hand-me-downs. He is not concerned about the cost—His Son has already paid it (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19-20). Our God goes above and beyond anything that our trifle obedience might warrant when He gives us a new life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 describes this to us:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
In the letters to the churches in Ephesus and Colosse, Paul reminded these brethren that they had “put on the new man which was created according to God” (Eph. 4:24; cf. Col. 3:10).
Notice in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that this new life is found in only one place—in Christ! Notice in Ephesians 4:24 that this new life was not created by man but created according to God. When one is “baptized into Christ” (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27)—the only Scriptural way to get in Christ—God creates for His child and gives to His child a new life.
And God’s desire is that we wear it out and use it up in service to Him. When you became a Christian, He gave you a new life. Is it showing any wear? Any use?