If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come;
the old has gone, the new is here.
2 Corinthians 5, 17

My old car had retreaded tyres. They’d cut off the worn tread and put a new one on. They looked beautiful, but they were old on the inside.
Unfortunately, that’s the way it is with many Christians: they are completely renewed, but on the inside they remain old. The façade is different, the talking and thinking is now Christian, they read the Bible and pray; – and yet inside everything has remained the same. How can that be?
They are not IN Christ, they have never completely surrendered themselves to Him. They themselves are still the masters of their lives, not Christ. They have received healing and comfort, and have experienced much with Jesus. And yet they belong to themselves and not to Christ. It is only the facade that is new, completely renewed, but not reborn.
For the new creation only the small word “is” is important: Is someone in Christ…  This is the condition, the condition for being a new creation. This is the condition for a child of God: to be in Christ.
That means to be in close contact with Him, to be one heart and soul with Him. Close exchange about everything that moves us. No counterpart: God there and I here; – but He in us, in our heart.
To be in Him also means: HE sits on the throne in our heart, He rules, He determines, He is the King in me.
I think of the old children’s prayer that my mother prayed with me in the evening (she knew no other): I am little, my heart is pure. Let no one live in it but Jesus alone. – It expresses wonderfully this love relationship between me and Christ.

Thank You Jesus, You dwell in me, in my heart! Yes, You shall be king there. You shall rule and I will obey, for You love me without limit and I trust You. Thank You, You make everything new; – not only the facade, but to the deepest depths of my soul. Thank You.