23/09/2014
The Story of a New Creature
I had been raised up from the bed of sickness on the second Tuesday of August 1934. The following Saturday, the second Saturday in August 1934,1 walked into town. It was a little town, then, with a population of about 9,000 people. In those days, everyone came to town on Satur¬day, including the surrounding farming community. All the businesses were located near the courthouse square, so on Saturdays the town was always crowded with people.
I ran into a friend of mine. Before I had become bed¬fast, we were bosom pals. But during the 16 months I had been bedfast, he had been to see me only once.
This Saturday he seemed really glad to see me. We sat down on the running board of a 1934 V8 Ford and began to talk about things we used to do before I became a new creature. He was the same old creature he had always been, but I had become a new creature.
From the natural standpoint, everybody has some kind of talent, although some people do not recognize that they do. These talents are just something we are born with, I suppose. I had two talents: I could always tame wild animals, and I could open any lock.
I can't tell you why, but locks intrigued me. In my early teens I could get into just about any place I wanted. And this boy was reminding me about the time I had opened the lock on some buildings and a group of boys, about 12 or 13 years of age, had gone inside.
I don't want to leave the impression that I made a prac¬tice of it, but once or twice I had managed to open a lock or two for these boys. I wouldn't go in myself, because for one thing, I was afraid of the dark. They didn't keep the stores lit up like they do now. The boys had gone inside and gotten candy. That's all they ever took, just candy. Of course, I did help them eat it.
My friend pointed to a building about half a block away and said, laughing, "Remember that night?"
I sat there with a mask-like look on my face and acted like I didn't know what he was talking about. (I knew what he was talking about, all right, but I was going to use this as an opportunity to witness to him.)
He finally said, "What is the matter with you?"
"Not a thing. Not a thing in the world."
"Well, you act like you don't even know what I'm talk¬ing about, and if it hadn't been for you, we couldn't have even gotten that candy." He went on talking about that night, going into more detail, and I just sat there with a blank look on my face.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked again.
"Not a thing," I replied.
"You act like you don't know what I'm talking about, and you were the one who opened that lock for us."
I said, "Lefty, the fellow who was with you boys that night is dead."
"You're not dead!" he exclaimed. "You know you're not dead."
(You see, he was looking at it from the physical stand¬point. I didn't die physically. But I was looking at it from the spiritual standpoint.)
He said, "I know you almost died, but you're not dead. That's you sitting right there."
"Oh," I said, "you're just looking at the house I am living in. You're looking at the outward man, at the body.
8 Understanding How To Fight the Good Fight of Faith
The man on the inside is a new creature now in Christ Jesus."
I went on, "The Bible says in Second Corinthians 5:17 that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away and all things have become new."
Notice what that says. Old things have passed away. So I was right when I told him that the old man on the inside had passed away! All things have become new!
