When someone repents and believes in Jesus as their Saviour and Lord then God does something that defies the imagination. He actually creates a new self inside us. Why does He do this? Because in our natural state we are a mixed bag of good and bad. The good comes from the fact that God originally made us in His image, that is, as a limited reflection of himself. But when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command and try to take control out of God’s hands then the image of God in them shattered. This meant that they could no longer think and act in healthy ways but rather in destructive ways, which is what sin is. (Sin is anything that blocks God’s goodness, especially the love we are supposed to have for one another.)
Furthermore, they could no longer bond with God because it would be like combining oil and water; humans were no longer fit for intimate bonding with God. Thus, before God gives us a new self we are a mixture of good and bad and distorted thoughts and desires. We might do something good but under pressure we often do not.
But God so loves us that He wants us to enjoy true life by giving us a new self. We were a caterpillar but God makes us a butterfly. This new self that God puts inside us is now our real self. In fact, this new self is a New Adam! When God the Son came to earth and was born as a baby then a new age had dawned on humankind because he was a new Adam. God was starting over again and giving humans the opportunity to start with a new nature that had not disobeyed God. Anyone who believes in Jesus receives this new nature with a new image of God. It is also the image of Jesus Christ because he was the one who lived a perfect life. Therefore, God wants to “Christform” us.
But when we receive the new self it is only a baby self. We are spiritual infants when we first believe. God now puts His Spirit inside us to empower this new Adam to grow up into a mature Adam, which is a process that will continue for the rest of our time on this earth.
So now this new self is your center. This is the self you will learn to live out of. The new self is like a flowing river of God’s goodness that we can ignore or block, or we can learn to intentionally think and act according to that goodness. This means continuously crucifying our former lost and destructive life, which the Bible calls the “flesh” (which is different form the body.) Our flesh is where our destructive desires live and it continuously tempts us to turn away from God and His blessings. Instead, we can choose to make the flesh take a backseat to our new self.
This new self that God puts in us is one of the big differences between Christianity and other religions. Only in Christianity does God actually put a new self made in His image inside His people and then grow this new self into a glorious, loving and shining person. This is not found in Islam, Buddhism or the Hindu religions; in those religions you have to remodel your old self with your own efforts with some help from a god or an impersonal force. But God does not patch up or remodel our old self; instead, He gives us a new self made in His image and that new self replaces the old self as we abide in Christ. Yet, He does not wipe out our core personality and gifts, rather they are all redesigned in the image of our new self.
Different people experience their new self in different ways, which can be confusing. Some people will feel it very strongly and others only weakly. If you can’t feel it very much (or even if you can) just continue to embrace the teachings in Scripture and spend time with Christian friends and you will find that you will start sensing the new self more and more. This new self has different thoughts and desires and will make different choices so just jump into that river and choose to let it take you. You new self wants healthy loving relationships and especially a union of love with God. Continually embrace these new desires and your infant new self will grow up. You will become a spiritual teenager, then a spiritual young adult, and eventually a mature adult Christformed person.
