Jesus came to make us new. While some see Christianity as a form of behavior modification, it\u2019s actually an invitation to ongoing heart transformation. Our old selves are buried and gone, and just as Jesus was resurrected after His death, we have been made new to live empowered by the Holy Spirit and bring glory to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new life Jesus gives invites us into an entirely new way of living. Often, we are tempted to believe that we can live in this newness while still embracing old or comfortable ways of living. But as the apostle Paul pointed out in Romans 6:11, we must count ourselves as \u201cdead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.\u201d Reading these verses, I find myself asking, \u201cHow do we pursue living lives marked by Christ\u2019s resurrection? How do we live devoted to God without oversimplifying our ongoing journey of discipleship into either a formulaic program or self-help methodology that\u2019s entirely built on our own strength and willpower?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When tempted to try our best to be \u201cgood Christians,\u201d the apostle Paul reminds us that the key to our transformation is not our human goodness. As we pattern our lives after His, the Holy Spirit leads us to become more and more like Jesus in our daily living. He calls us to adopt Jesus\u2019s beliefs, actions, and attitudes. Like in Colossians 3:2, we are compelled to set our thoughts on what is above, not on earthly things. And Jesus taught us in Matthew 6 to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. What we dwell on, what we pay attention to, what we focus on\u2014these things shape our beliefs. This is how we set our thoughts on what is above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we set our thoughts on Him, our actions begin to change too. We want to be like Jesus\u2014to live faithful lives marked by holiness and love. We seek to serve, to love, to give, not out of obligation but out of a hunger to see God\u2019s kingdom come and will be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, I invite you to see how the Holy Spirit might empower you to live fully devoted to Jesus. Submit your thinking, your actions, your attitudes, and desires to God. Open your heart to His leading and His influence. Let Him continue to transform you from the inside out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jesus came to make us new. While some see Christianity as a form of behavior modification, it\u2019s actually an invitation to ongoing heart transformation. Our old selves are buried and gone, and just as Jesus was resurrected after His death, we have been made new to live empowered by the Holy Spirit and bring glory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":71282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philippiansandcolossians"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"related_plans":[71272],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"NEW LIFE IN CHRIST<\/b>
\r\nby Nicole Smithee<\/i>
\r\n
Jesus came to make us new. While some see Christianity as a form of behavior modification, it\u2019s actually an invitation to ongoing heart transformation. Our old selves are buried and gone, and just as Jesus was resurrected after His death, we have been made new to live empowered by the Holy Spirit and bring glory to God.<\/p>
\r\n
The new life Jesus gives invites us into an entirely new way of living. Often, we are tempted to believe that we can live in this newness while still embracing old or comfortable ways of living. But as the apostle Paul pointed out in Romans 6:11, we must count ourselves as \u201cdead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.\u201d Reading these verses, I find myself asking, \u201cHow do we pursue living lives marked by Christ\u2019s resurrection? How do we live devoted to God without oversimplifying our ongoing journey of discipleship into either a formulaic program or self-help methodology that\u2019s entirely built on our own strength and willpower?\u201d<\/p>
\r\n
When tempted to try our best to be \u201cgood Christians,\u201d the apostle Paul reminds us that the key to our transformation is not our human goodness. As we pattern our lives after His, the Holy Spirit leads us to become more and more like Jesus in our daily living. He calls us to adopt Jesus\u2019s beliefs, actions, and attitudes. Like in Colossians 3:2, we are compelled to set our thoughts on what is above, not on earthly things. And Jesus taught us in Matthew 6 to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. What we dwell on, what we pay attention to, what we focus on\u2014these things shape our beliefs. This is how we set our thoughts on what is above.<\/p>
\r\n
When we set our thoughts on Him, our actions begin to change too. We want to be like Jesus\u2014to live faithful lives marked by holiness and love. We seek to serve, to love, to give, not out of obligation but out of a hunger to see God\u2019s kingdom come and will be done.<\/p>
\r\n
Today, I invite you to see how the Holy Spirit might empower you to live fully devoted to Jesus. Submit your thinking, your actions, your attitudes, and desires to God. Open your heart to His leading and His influence. Let Him continue to transform you from the inside out!<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"22","scripture":"Colossians 3:1-17, John 11:25, Romans 6:1-14","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}