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Step 3: Receive your new identity

One of the most powerful verses regarding a Christian’s new identity is 2 Corinthians 5:17, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!’

Something profound and powerful happens when we give our life to Jesus and follow Him. We receive the free gift of grace to be forgiven and freed from sin. We become a new creation or as the KJV translation puts it, a ‘new creature’.

We are not who we used to be. This is mainly spiritual, although it also affects our minds, hearts, and bodies. It also affects how we live, and treat ourselves and others. Therefore, it matters what we watch with our eyes and listen to with our ears. As discussed on day one, Jesus said it matters when we look at others out of lust (Matthew 6:22-23) and the Bible is clear that when we live by the Spirit we no longer live in selfish and destructive ways (Galatians 5:19-23). There is a new kind of fruit that we are producing with our lives and choices.

When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive a guide, an advocate, a comforter, and one who will lead us into all truth. We become more aware of the harm that engaging in porn leads us to. Many psychologists, even those who don’t have a moral axe to grind with porn, are concerned about the kind of sexual education that porn is giving children and young people and how it is harming our minds. There is also ample evidence out there which shows that porn is bad for people in many ways:

• Porn creates unrealistic expectations about sex
• Porn trains misogynistic (strong prejudice against women) thinking
• Porn desensitizes people to sexual violence
• In some cases, porn can lead to sexual dysfunction

These things will not lead us into life and all its fullness as Jesus would want for us. When we become a new creation, we no longer act the way we used to, and that means the way we interact with porn must change because it is not the new way to live for a new creation. Be reminded today that as a Christian, you are a new creation, you have changed, you are changing and saying yes to the new desires, thoughts, longings, and behaviors that the Holy Spirit is leading you into.

When living out our new identity in Christ, it can be helpful to ask, ‘Why do I tend to go back to this ‘old’ behavior? Am I looking for a connection because I feel lonely? Is my life too hard so I use porn to escape and numb out? Is it where I go to feel excitement because my life feels boring?’ Spend some time exploring the answers to these questions.

Finally, we all do things we don't want to do. We have experienced days when we don’t feel like a new creation, it's like our old lives are returning. Even on those days, we have to hold fast to the new identity that God has given us by choosing what we know to be true over the lie we’re tempted by in those moments.

Questions: Do you see yourself as a new creation since becoming a Christian? If not, why not? Read these passages and ’be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ (Romans 12:2)