Read

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

Think

I have performed a lot of weddings over the years. And funny things happen. I have had turtledoves cooing during the ceremony. I have even had a bride’s hair catch on fire. All kinds of wild stuff. But every single time, before the wedding, I sit down with the couple in my office. We talk about some casual things. Where they met. What they do for a living. And then I get to the question that matters most.

"Tell me about your story. Tell me about when you met Jesus Christ."

You would be amazed at the answers I get. Here are the most common ones.

"Well, Ed, I have always been a Christian." That is impossible. That would be like me saying I have always been married. I was not always married. I got married on June 26, 1982, at 7:00 p.m., in Columbia, South Carolina, at the First Baptist Church. There was a specific moment. A relationship started. You cannot "always" be a Christian any more than you can "always" be married.

"I believe in God." Great. So does the enemy. The Bible says even the demonic forces believe in God so much that they tremble. Believing God exists and surrendering your life to him are two very different things.

"When I was twelve, I was confirmed at my church." That is wonderful. Confirmation classes are good. But a class is not a conversion. Walking through a curriculum is not the same as walking through the door of faith.

"I am a very spiritual person." Everyone is spiritual. A yoga instructor is spiritual. A person who reads horoscopes is spiritual. Spiritual does not mean saved.

Here is the answer that tells me this person has genuinely encountered Jesus: "I was going in one direction. I realized I was a sinner. I understood that God sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and rise again. I received him into my life. And from that point forward, everything started to change."

A real story has a turning point. There is a before and there is an after. And 2 Corinthians 5:17 puts it as clearly as any verse in Scripture: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

The old has gone. The new is here. That is not a remodel. That is not a renovation. That is demolition and new construction. God does not take your old life and put a fresh coat of paint on it. He tears it down and builds something entirely new from the foundation up.

Think about this for a second. If the person you are dating cannot tell you about their turning point, that is a significant red flag. Not because we are looking for perfection. We are looking for transformation. There is a massive difference between someone who has been in church their whole life and someone who has been changed by Jesus. Church attendance is geography. Transformation is biography. One puts you in a building. The other puts Christ in your life.

I sat with one couple, and when I asked the question, the young man gave me this answer: "I do not know about Jesus, but I am a very spiritual person." And the young woman next to him was nodding along like that was a perfectly acceptable response. I wanted to lean across the desk and say, "If this were a car and I asked who is driving, you just told me the car is in neutral on a hill."

Paul did not write "if anyone is in Christ, the slight improvement has come." He wrote "the new creation has come." New. Not upgraded. Not enhanced. New. And when you have genuinely experienced that kind of transformation, you can talk about it. You do not have to be eloquent. You do not need seminary language. You just need a before and an after.

Every couple I have met who could both tell me their story with specifics and conviction, where there were real turning points and real evidence of change, those marriages have a different foundation than the ones built on vague spirituality. Because when two people have both been made new by the same God, they share something no common interest or physical attraction can manufacture. They share a new identity.

I still remember sitting in my office with couple after couple, listening. And the ones who had a story, you could hear it in their voice. Something had happened to them. They were not reciting a script. They were testifying. And testimony is not just a church word. It is a courtroom word. It means you were there. You saw it. You can tell the truth about what happened because you experienced it firsthand. So when it comes to the person you are dating, ask the question. Do they have a story?

Apply

Tell your story – Write down your own before-and-after with Christ in three sentences. If you cannot, today can be the day you choose to turn from your old life and turn to Jesus. And if you are dating someone, ask them to share their story with you.

Pray

Father, thank you for making me new. Thank you that my past does not define me and that the old really has gone. Give me the courage to share my story with others and the wisdom to look for genuine transformation in the people I allow into my life. I do not want to settle for vague spirituality when you are offering total renewal. In Jesus’ name. Amen.