From Traitor to Super Hero...

"How far has the LORD taken our sins from us?

   Farther than the distance from east to west!"

Psalm 103:12 (amp)

I'm a simple person, really. If you've read much of my writings you probably know that. God speaks to me in the simplest of things. 

Today was the last day of VBA (Vacation Bible Adventure) at our church.The theme this year was Heroes and my son, Mitchell (18) was part of the dramatic storyline that carried throughout the week. He was  Secret Agent 0011. I stopped in this morning to see the opening session and watch his skit. As the story unfolded, to my dismay, it was discovered that Agent 0011 had in fact been working all along for the bad guy...Mega Really Bad Dude. My son was a double agent and my mother's heart broke! But in the end, he did the right thing and became a Super Hero. I was so proud of him!

It was a simple story, and the kids all loved it. But what was interesting to watch during the course of the day was how Agent 0011 was treated by the children after that session. At the end of the day, the children were coming up to the actors and getting their autographs, and several of them would call Agent 0011.....traitor. Even though in the end, he realized the right thing to do and saved the city from Mega Really Bad Dude, what they remembered about him was who he was; not who he became. 

 "Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ 

(the Messiah) he is a new creation 

(a new creature altogether); 

the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] 

has passed away. 

Behold, the fresh and new has come!"

2 Corinthians 5:17 (amp)

As I was driving home from the church today, thinking back on it all and feeling proud of the young man my son has become, I pondered  the story line and wondered if the children actually got it. I think they understood the concept of being a hero, but did they get the idea that once we come to Christ, we become different...a new person?

For that matter, do we get it?

How many times have talked about someone and said, "You know, the ex-drug addict" or "the ex-prostitute" or the "ex-whatever"?  And while we are so grateful for God's mercy and grace and the deliverance He has brought, we still describe them by what they were and not who they are now...new creations in Christ.

If God has indeed separated our sins from us, as far as the east is from the west, then why do we act and treat each other as if they are still in our back pocket? They no longer define who we are. The redeeming work of Jesus' blood now defines us.

So, if like Agent 0011 you have been working in the past for the wrong side, so to speak, but have come to know and serve God, don't let the enemy remind you that you were once a traitor. You are a new creation. And greater is He who is within you, then he who is in the world....You are a Super Hero now!