The New Creation Has Come
- Cathrine Schmelzer
- Jun 7
- 5 min read
“I had not accepted that I was a new creation with a new Father. I lived under the lie that I was tied to my ancestors and destined for those cycles.”
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Today’s verse makes me think of a particularly long season of my motherhood that was ripe to be renewed by its truth. I wasn’t a mum very long before I found myself in a pattern of crying myself to sleep at night… like silently sobbing on my pillow as my husband slept beside me. My day-to-day parenting never went the way I’d hoped. I didn’t know how to mother well or deal with my own emotions, especially the surprise ones that surface in parenting. It was the better part of 10 years that I begged the Lord, nightly, to give me another chance to love my kids better, another day to be more patient, to appreciate my kids at their ages, beg for help to not get so frustrated.
To not replicate my own upbringing.
I was trapped in thinking I’d blown it with my inherited, knee jerk reactions and believed the whisper in my mind, “you’re just like your dad,” the one thing I was trying so hard to fight.
But God. But God, right? Momma, He is so kind and graceful and merciful. He’s patient, I believe especially with mommas (read Isaiah 40:11. God understands raising children, girl…) and He was never the voice repeating those words over me that kept me trapped in guilt and failure.
One evening in that season, the faces of a couple of friends from college popped in my mind, and out of the blue I texted them what I’ve just told you. I explained I was heavy and joyless and weary and hopeless, crippled in my parenting, destined to be my parents. My friend texted back a prayer. As I read it, I kid you not, that crushing weight lifted…and left. What lifted was the power of a lie I had believed about myself and my motherhood, and held on to for a decade. A decade, friend.
I had not accepted that I was a new creation with a new Father.
I lived under the lie that I was tied to my ancestors and destined for those cycles. Over the next couple of months, the Lord clearly spoke to me, “You are not your father, you are mine. My blood runs in you. You are my child, with my character and my lineage.” He reminded me of todays scripture in 2 Corinthians, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation! The old has GONE. The new is here!”
You are not you’re upbringing. You are not your parents. You are not your mistakes.
You are a new creation.
This week we’re going to take a practical look at how to believe and walk that out to make sure we are grounded in this truth. We’re going to ask the Lord to renew our thinking and set us free. So, pray with me today as I’m praying for you, that the Holy Spirit would reveal the voice of any lies you currently believe and renew our hearts and motherhood.
Faith Follow-Through:
This week, take some time to grow in motherhood and faith:
Tuesday:
WE are new creations. It is SO important that we remember and think of this truth often. It will inform everything thing that we believe and do. Friend, I’m a nerd for the Greek, so go there with me on this a minute today. In the Greek, “is a new creation” is a loaded phrase. It means lots of things simultaneously: to come in to being, to be made, to arise, to be assembled, to continue, to be finished.
The truth of this verse is that when we accepted the gift of Jesus’ forgiveness and lordship in His death and resurrection, He.made.us.something.entirely.new.
We are not our old selves, even if we’re still wearing the old skin and have some of the old habits. He made us new once and for all, just as He is continually making us realize our newness. And we will continue realizing our new selves until we’re home with Him.
Maybe you definitely don’t feel new, or you’re still upset to see old habits you’d like gone…but your creator has you in process. You are not destined to be your dad, or your mother, or your habits, or your old family lineage. You are destined to be His new creation. Anything else is a lie from the enemy of your soul who only seeks to devour you and kill your soul. Dwell on that today and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help believing it.
Wednesday:
The old is gone. So how do we apply the truth of 2 Corinthians? We spent time yesterday focusing on the truth that we are completely new mothers, learning to take off our old selves. Today we’ll look at the truth that “the old has gone.”
Another gift from the Greek is that the word for gone means “to perish from neglect.” I have had many houseplants that have perished from neglect. I probably watered it until I got focused on something that was more important to me. And then a month later its dead as a doornail, never to be revived. Perished.
When we accepted Christ, Jesus cut the ties from our old lineage and made us new in His lineage. He stopped the old in an instant. So why then do we still see some of our old habits? Because we are being renewed every day as we walk with His. That is His design. You can’t skip to “having it all together.” This process is for His glory, not ours.
So, what is one habit (one at a time momma, He’s not in a hurry) that sticks out to you that you don’t want to pass on to the next generation? One habit the Holy Spirit is leaning on? One habit that you need to let perish from neglect? Talk to Jesus about it. Lay it all out. Ask for the Holy Spirit to help, and for an anchor verse from the Word to speak over that habit when it shows up. Choose this week to take off that one habit every time it tries to lay across your shoulders or slip on to your feet.
Thursday:
The new has come. As we walk with Him more, Jesus and His ways will become more important than our old ones. That is the coming of the new and it is done one decision at a time. Here are some scriptures to pray over this weekend.
“And we all are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the lord, who is the spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.” Psalms 119:105
“Put off your old self and be renewed in the spirit of your minds.” Ephesians 4:22-24
“Walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16
Written by Brooke, mom of 3
