The New Birth is a Radical Change

"Therefore if any man is in Christ--he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

How comprehensive the words--how vast the change! The effect produced by the new birth is radical and thorough: the heart, once so hateful and hating, has now become a fountain of sweet waters, transmitting its pure and holy streams throughout the whole soul, changing the entire conduct of the individual, and working out in its degree a universal holiness of his whole being.

For the Christian, who has received a new nature in regeneration . . . .

The WORLD he once loved is now as a crucified thing.

The PLEASURES he once indulged have lost their charm.

The SINS he once committed are now loathed and forsaken.

The worldly friendships he once enjoyed no longer attract or please him.

The new birth will be manifest in our Christlike mind and spirit . . . the pride and selfishness, the worldliness and frivolity, the levity and man-pleasing, which cropped up so luxuriantly from the soil of our unsanctified heart, will now in a great measure be supplanted by the fruits of righteousness springing from a heart which has been changed, sanctified, and occupied by the Spirit of God.

The walk and conversation of a renewed man will be the outward and visible reflection of inward and invisible grace. As a parent, as a child, as a brother, a sister--so let your light shine, so let your life evidence its reality, so let your change and your faith be visible in its lowliness and gentleness, its lovable and loving spirit, as to command from all who see it the admiring exclamation, "Behold! he is a new creature; old things have passed away; all things are become new!"

- Octavius Winslow