The old has gone, the new has come!
—2 Corinthians 5:17
Paul’s autobiographical references have the feel of obituary notices: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
“You must be born again,” Jesus said (Jn 3:7). It denotes the death of who I’ve been—and the birth of who I can be. To borrow Tennyson’s words:
Ah, for a man to arise in me,
That the man I am may cease to be.
Jesus extends the offer of the death of the old life and the birth of the new.
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom 6:4).
Turn loose of the old.
Hold on to the new.