I spent the first 34 years of my life learning how to say the right things and do the right things when I was supposed to say and do them. I learned from an early age that sin is bad. Unfortunately, in my experience with the church, you talked about sin in general, but you didn't really deal with it. People that were caught up in sin were isolated, unofficially cast out of the body. Even better for the church, often these people would cast themselves out, which made it much easier to wash their hands of it. It created a culture of fear and skepticism. Fear that your sin would be found out (so you hid it deep down) and skepticism that no one around you (since they were all perfect) was really "born again".
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!"
First, off, notice the exclamation point at the end of the verse - this is exciting! It is worth celebrating! Unfortunately, in our uber-skeptical society, it has become commonplace for people to accept that real change can't actually take place. Terms like "Playing the God card" and "Jailhouse Jesus" get tossed around frequently. For the person that has truly undergone a change, this is heartbreaking. They want to live their lives in light of this amazing new perspective, yet they are met only with that skepticism. Soon, they begin to slip into isolationism as it becomes harder and harder to risk the rejection.
What has to happen for a person to truly become a new creation though? When Christ left, He promised that the Spirit would remain. First God came down and lived among us, but now He can live in us. You become a new creation when God has literally entered your spiritual system. If that's the case, how could you not be different than before? Remember, the Spirit is having to remove you from the throne, and that's a battle. For some of us that are strong willed, we have to be humbled in a mighty way before we are willing to let that happen. Yet we are quick to judge people by their past instead of by the evidence we see in front of us. When we see them fall, we assume they're going back to their old ways rather than offering them our hand and helping them up.
Please, (if I could get down on my knees and beg you, I would. I am now, in fact, typing from my knees.) when someone tells you that they have been born again, rejoice with them! Stop taking the road of skepticism, and for once, assume the best. Not because we are somehow now sinless, but because we know the work is being done by God, and He is perfect. I can tell you firsthand the roller coaster of emotions that you go through as you are rejected by people, many of whom mean a great deal to you, yet trying to be convinced that you have truly been set apart by God.
So if you truly believe, please, spend some time getting to know the new us, it will encourage you in your walk. If you don't truly believe (and I was there for a long time, so don't think you're alone), spend some time to get to know the new us, let our stories be evidence for you to consider. Either way, we have a story to tell that is an amazing testament to the love and pursuit of Christ. Let us share our hearts with you, but be gentle. Just like our salvation came at great cost to our Savior, our new perspective often came at great cost to us personally, and it is no small feat to attempt to overcome the fear of rejection time and time again.
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