A New Creature (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781400325245)

A boy's father goes to tuck his son in at bed time and before they say their prayers asks if Jesus lives in his heart. The boy says no, and his father begins to tell him about the sinner's prayer and explains who Jesus is. "When He lives in you, you become a new creature", the father says to his son. This is derived from the scripture II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." The boy hears all about how Jesus Christ makes us new and accepts Him into his heart. He gets up the next morning and looks in the mirror to see if he has changed. The boy goes on a journey discovering his new life in Christ by going to church, praying, studying the bible, witnessing to friends and drawing pictures about bible stories. A problem comes to test him when he is approached by a bully in school and pushed down to the floor. His immediate reaction is to get up and hit his schoolmate, but the Holy Spirit speaks to him and tells him not to. Discouraged, our protagonist walks home and tells his mother what happened, and she encourages him that he did the right thing. As the child goes on a bike ride, he thinks about his actions and asked the Lord to forgive him for getting upset. He then spots the bully who begins to laugh and taunt him. The boy decides to approach the bully with kindness and tell him hello and forgives him of his actions. This causes the schoolmate to think about what he did and says sorry to the boy. As they make up, the boy invites his new friend in for a piece of cake. The boy now understands that becoming a new creature isn't an overnight outward change, but a process of developing a relationship with Christ who has the ability to change our hearts and minds.