Walk in Newness of Life

Life before Christ is like traveling on a one-way road that leads to a dead end. When we give our lives to Christ, we die to ourselves; we let Him take over the navigation. Our sinful nature not only dies, it is buried, just as Jesus was nailed to the cross and buried in the tomb.

This verse is such a beautiful picture of God’s grace and redemptive love for us and the transformation that occurs in our salvation. When we are baptized, we are underwater for a few seconds and then raised as a symbol of the transformation that has already taken place in our hearts. We do not need to be held underwater according to the sins we have committed, thank goodness! We are raised immediately. When we surrender our life to Christ, our sinful nature is buried, and just as Jesus was raised, God raises us from a life that was spiritually dead to a new life reconciled to Him. God no longer sees the sin that has separated us from Him; He sees Christ in us. We are reborn, forever free from the penalty of our sins.

Are you living like someone who is spiritually new? As believers, we should live differently than before we received Christ as our Lord and Savior. Just as Jesus experienced a real physical death to pay the price for our sins, a real and tangible change should take place in our lives. We should live differently because we have been completely changed.

We need to ask ourselves, “How are we walking?” As believers, we should not only walk differently; we should talk differently and act differently. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” There is an excitement that comes with new things. There is a joy that comes with a new life in Christ. By God’s grace, we are reborn, reconciled, restored, and reunited with God.

We also need to ask ourselves if we are sharing our faith with others. Let us not only walk in the newness of life, let us share with joyful excitement what the Lord has done. He did not simply add a GPS package to our old life to help us find our way. He gave us a Savior to take us where we need to go and to whom we can point others.

Reflect & Pray

Lord, thank you so much for Your grace and mercy. Thank you for providing a perfect plan for our salvation, so that we can walk in a new life free from the entanglement of our sin. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Go Deeper with Ben Young

Do Something to Move Forward
Helen Keller once said, “All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of the overcoming of it.” We are all in this together. We have either survived tough days or are trying to survive tough days right now, but we have all been there at some time or another. How do we make it through tough times? How do we avoid the negative thoughts that can paralyze us? Sometimes, the journey begins by taking baby steps. Just do something that helps you keep moving forward with your life.

Whether it is reading a book, or attending a seminar to improve your skills, learning a new language, or getting an online degree, do something productive and life-giving. Take an action that moves you forward and keeps you from living in the past or in the land of regrets. If you get stuck thinking about the past, challenge yourself to take one step forward today.

I believe that is what helped the Apostle Paul keep going. He learned to focus on one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what was ahead, knowing that God would give him the strength he needed to do so (Philippians 3:13-14). Here is a prayer for those days that we need help moving forward: Father, I choose to move forward with my life today. I can do nothing to change the past, but You can redeem the past as I move forward today. Help me to get my eyes off myself and onto others. I know you are with me and will guide me through. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.