The new birth!

(Octavius Winslow, "From Grace to Glory" 1864)  LISTEN to audio!  Download audio

(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)

"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.

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 SOCIETY he once enjoyed—no longer attracts or pleases.

The new birth will be manifest in our Christlike temper and mind and spirit . . .
  the moroseness and churlishness,
  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 an inward and invisible grace.

As a parent, and as a child, as a brother, a sister—so let your light shine, so let your life evidence its reality, so let your religion 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!"

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Something to ponder
"Let us aim to act, and speak, and live as if Christ were at our side!
 And so He is, though we may not be sensible of it."  Mary Winslow