Words from WW Blog

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

It is a summer of newness. New basketball players who are new, or almost new, to the sport. Like me appearing on the beach after a winter of wearing warm clothing, my skin so white it hurt the eyes to see me, I have basketball players who are completely untanned from any exposure to the game of basketball.

One new player doesn’t understand the differences between a zone defense and a man-to-man defense. When we play zone, she chases another player around the court like she’s trying to catch a rabbit, and when we play man-to-man, she’s as immovable as a stone statue.

Four other players believe it is mandatory that they dribble the basketball with their right hand when they get it! I’m taking the air out of the basketball for practice! My guess is that most of them will still try to dribble it.

New ventures have their bumps and oops. No one is a natural basketball player. The fundamentals need to be understood and taught in order for the new player to see how the basics all fit together to make the student into a player.

The same principle could be applied to new believers in Jesus. No one on their own understands the grace of God, the cross of Christ, or the forgiveness of sin. To a new follower of Jesus there needs to be discipling, teaching, modeling, and coaching.

When I put a new basketball player on the court without instruction or guidance, chaos is likely to happen. They could be playing defense when we’re on offense, run with the ball instead of dribbling it, shoot at the wrong basket, throw to the wrong team, stand in the wrong place, decide to go to the restroom even though they are new of the players in the game. Weird things happen when new players try to function in a game they don’t quite understand yet.

New followers of Jesus can end up creating their own understanding of the gospel as a result of not being discipled in the true gospel. They may have done some watching of how people who say they are Christians act, what they do, and the words they say. In other words they may be able to learn the language of Christianity, the actions of the Christian faith, and the looks of the faith, but not understand the reason for the Christian faith. They might understand parts, but not the whole.

When you come to think about it, that was a problem that was evident in the early churches to which Paul wrote his epistles. The Galatians had their Judaizers who didn’t understand grace. The Corinthians…well, they had a lot of warts that they didn’t seem to see, resulting in a theology that was more warped than that old record album that was left too close to the fire. The Colossians needed some guidance on the divine nature of Jesus, and the Thessalonians needed some clarification on what happens to people who have died.

Newness needs shaping. I’d better say that, but better. Newness needs grace-filled shaping. There’s a new person who has been created through Jesus. Who they have been is being redefined by who they now are. In many ways, they are the same people, but they now have a new purpose, a new understanding of who they are and why they are.

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This entry was posted on June 14, 2026 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Bible, Christianity, Faith, God, Jesus

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