Post 4: A New Life in Christ
Image: AI generated image of a man illuminated in light praying at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Post Summary: In the previous post, I discussed how the Holy Spirit of God convicted me of my sinful life and how He drew me into repentance and salvation in Christ Jesus! In this post, I discuss the next day of feeling unsure of what to make of this newness of salvation in Christ and the need to share this with at least one person that day.
That next morning I awoke with such an unusual clarity. There was an indescribable “newness” that I could not place at the time. I knew I had been forgiven the night before, though at that time I had no real concept of what had happened or how to proceed. The one thing I knew for sure was that I absolutely HAD to tell someone, so that first someone was my God-fearing, Christ-loving momma. I talked with my mom that morning about my salvation and she was so excited to hear that. During that conversation, she mentioned that she had been praying for my salvation since the day I was born and reflected on the fact that God did indeed finally answer that prayer 38 years later. I was practically in tears again hearing this from mom but I held back as she continued expressing her gratitude and thanks to God for saving my soul. She also gave me a couple of scriptures to begin looking into for guidance on how to really get started as a newly converted man in Christ (such as Ephesians 6 discussing the Armor of God, reading the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; studying the prayers and praises of the Book of Psalms; and looking to the wisdom of the Proverbs; among other scriptures), and also pressed upon me the need to find a gospel-centered local church (aka local body of Christ) to grow spiritually and fellowship with other believers s (Acts 2:41-47, Hebrews 10:25).
As I initiatlly began to read and research those scriptures as well as googling how salvation makes a person feel like new, I came across this bible verse as well, 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new". As I researched further, I found this commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:17 from the blog Verse by Verse Commentary which offers a helpful description the transformation of a believer in Christ.
In my research, I also came across Ephesians 2:8-9, which says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast”. Exploring this verse further, I came to learn that my salvation is an undeserved gift that came from God alone through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, and was not earned through human effort, good works, or anything that I did, but rather it was solely by God's grace! AMEN! This was an illuminating moment for me as I came to realize that God chose to save me, which was a truly wonderful and amazing feeling. The rest of that day was just this truly awesome peace and comfort knowing that I had been saved and having direction on how to begin to live a life for the glory of Christ.
Sunday rolls around but I had not found a church yet (because I had only just gotten saved yesterday after all lol) so I took the day to relax and refresh myself for the coming week. I went for a walk, which felt completely different because I was now walking in truth and the light of Christ.
Back at work the following week, I came in with a fresh, new perspective on literally everything in my life. Previously, I had approached my job with general indifference and ungratefulness, not really hating my job (in retrospect it was a pretty good job) but also not really excited about it either. Prior to my conversion, I had become complacent, taking it for granted and being content to just exist at work, but this new perspective was one of thanksgiving for how God had blessed me to even land the job in the first place, a job for which I was grossly unqualified. I didn't tell anyone on my immediate team that I had just been saved. We barely even talked at all except in meetings and when collaborating on work projects, and our conversations never really got very personal because I was adamant to keep personal life separate from work life. It just didn't seem like a subject I needed to share with them in that moment, especially since I didn't really know enough about salvation to really explain it to someone. I did however share it with a few coworkers and work associates, and luckily enough, those few folks seemed to know enough about Christianity to know what I meant by “saved”, and they seemed happy for me and gave me encouragement. I also told a few of my close friends as well, and they also offered congratulations (later, it would be these same friends who would become unresponsive to requests to hanging out and distance themselves because of my declarations and sharing of the Gospel of Christ).
Living in this new revelation of Lord Jesus Christ having revived me from spiritual death to spiritual life (Romans 8:10), the growing gratitude for such a salvation has cause me to surrender all things in my life to the glory of the Everlasting King Jesus ( Psalm 145:1, Revelation 17:14) who has saved my soul from the coming judgement and wrath of God the Father (Romans 5:6-11, 1 Thessalonians 1:10) . My life had taken on a new direction and new meaning and I was excited to dive head and heart first into this new life.
Stay tuned to the next post where I discuss beginning to learn about who God is and what it means to live a Christ-centered life, as well as how the Holy Spirit has been working to conform me more to the image of Christ.
Next Post: Post 5 – Under new construction