When you choose to accept Christ as your savior, you are declaring that you believe that He died and rose again for you. There is more though; you are now a new creation in Christ!
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17
Think on these two words a minute: NEW CREATION
What comes to your mind when you read those words? For me, the first picture that comes to mind is the image of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. My family was once given a chance to have several butterfly larvae, and we were able to watch the whole metamorphosis happen. It was amazing to watch these tiny little brown caterpillars eat and grow and shed their skin multiple times before becoming a chrysalis and then finally after two weeks emerging as butterflies!
It took them two weeks in the darkness to go from a dull brown, not very nice looking caterpillar to a bright, beautiful butterfly! If you didn't know the process, you would hardly believe that they are the same creature. That is such a vivid picture of what should be happening to us once we become a Christian!
Here are a few verses from the Bible that tell us what it means to be a new creation in Christ and what that looks like:
"22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:22-24
"5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Colossians 3:5-10
We are to be a NEW CREATION in Christ! We are told throw off our old self and our old ways and put on the new self and follow God's ways. We should be hardly recognizable to people who knew us before we were living in Christ. Becoming a Christian should change the way we talk, think and especially how we treat others. How has becoming a new creation in Christ changed you?