The New Nature
Date: October 20th, 2024
Cost: $500
Canvas: 30” x 30”
…our old self was crucified with Christ… —John 6:6
Common sense tells us that if we see ourselves as worthless sinners, we will actually increase our sinning (also known as the Rosenthal effect). Yet, this ‘sinner’ theology is still strong in Christianity. Today, Doug offered the alternative: to believe that Jesus has already permanently fused his spiritual DNA with our spirit, thus making us a new creation such that our truest identity is Jesus, himself.
Believing this is so powerful that one’s old identity actually begins dying, allowing Jesus’ DNA to then expand (from the spirit) into the mind.
But, how do I represent our new identity in Christ? I imagined some dramatic fractal patterns…trees and river deltas branching out. Hmm…too complicated. Just as Doug began speaking (knowing only the general theme) I got a picture of Jesus reaching out in sacrificial love from his cross…replicating himself into me. Quickly, I realized our arms could lock together to form the symbol of infinity, representing our eternal bond. Our arms also seem to invite a broken hearted person to climb up into them…and be lifted up to the Father.
Whoa, check this out…right now, as I look back at the painting, I realize that Jesus and I resemble a double helix! (Coincidence?) This double helix bears the new programming code for my mind. The more I believe Christ is my identity, the more my brain gets rewired, leading to new actions. This is our New Nature.
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