| Kaputt! - article by Joel Hempel Marcia’s second cousin, who lives in Germany with her family, tells me Kaputt means “broken, not working.” What is not working? Our old self! Es ist kaputt! If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old is gone. Behold, the new has come. 2 Cor. 5:17 What is gone and broken forever? Our unforgiven state. Also gone is the inability to say no to whatever creates havoc in our lives and the lives of others. Gone is the powerlessness to break a pattern of sin. And gone is the self-defeating attitude declaring, I can’t help it! Kaputt is Satan’s grip! I know that can be hard to believe when sin and self-inflicted disorder in our lives continue after decades of being a Christian. But we are encouraged to be gentle with ourselves while not giving up intentionally growing in Christ. You see, there is a vast difference between continuing to sin and continuing to live in sin. Living in sin is when sin controls a person, and one is defenseless as temptation strikes. But when we are born again through faith in Jesus Christ, we are instantaneously brought into a saving relationship with God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Change in our status before God occurs immediately. But then, the hard work begins! The slow, up and down, forward and backward, often frustrating process of growing in faith and faithfulness continues until death do us part from this world. But we can be assured, from now (whatever your age), until we are taken out of this world and into the presence of Christ, we are in a fight that we will win! (see Philippians 1:6; Romans 6:4-11; 1 Peter 1:3-9) The victory we are already celebrating in Christ – having been raised with him through our baptism – holds onto us when we are feeling weak and when we are failing. There is also this: Behold! The new has come! What is new? New may be your faith. But for sure, new is the daily remembering of our identity as God’s loved and forgiven child. And remembering who we are as God’s grace-rich Christians is essential; for it is when we forget or ignore the truth of this Gospel message that we slip back into old ways. Scripture is clear: Our old self is Kaputt. It has been nailed to the cross! But new is what cousin Becky calls funktioniert. It is what is working for us. It is the Spirit of Christ working with and within us to bring about change – change in how we see ourselves as renewed to live for Jesus. | 
