I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. — GALATIANS 2:20

I was healed on a Tuesday. That Saturday I walked to town, and I happened to run into a friend of mine. We had been bosom buddies. But during the sixteen months I had been bedfast, he had seen me only once.

He was the same old creature he had always been — but I had become a new creature. He laughed about the things we used to do. Pointing to a building down the street, he said, “Remember the night . . .” and he went on to talk about the time I had picked the lock on the door so some boys could go in and steal candy. I sat there with a mask-like look on my face, as if I didn’t know what he was talking about. (I remembered it well enough, but I wanted to use this as an opportunity to witness to him.)

“What’s the matter with you? You act like you don’t remember — and you were the ringleader,” he finally said.

“Lefty, the fellow you were with that night is dead.”

“You’re not dead! I know you almost died, but you’re not dead! That’s you sitting there!”

“Oh,” I said, “you’re looking at the house I live in — my body. The man on the inside who gave permission to the body to pick that lock, is gone. And this man on the inside is now a new creature in Christ Jesus.”

Confession: I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. I hold fast to the confession that I am a new creature.