When I gave Christ permission to work in my heart it was a new beginning for me.
I went to a retreat in the mountains and something there caused a pulling at my heart. I was fully involved in things of the world at the time.
But Christ was knocking at my door.
I opened the door because I didn’t want to waste the rest of my life on things that didn’t matter. I was going through life without any meaning at all. I would follow any person that said come this way or that way. I would go.
I had no roots to say no.
But after I opened the door to Christ, he began to change my view of right and wrong.
He was giving me a new beginning that was only just starting.
What does God say about new beginnings?
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Paul is encouraging the people of Colossae here. He’s encouraging them to let go of their old selves and embrace the new self. The old self is the flesh which is weak and always a slave to sin.
The new self is Christ living within.
What does that mean practically to put on the new self?
I could only do so much myself before I needed to ask Christ to help me put on more of the new self. I tried and tried, but the temptations were always there. I needed help above and beyond what my flesh could do.
Ask Christ to help you and give him permission to work. I went in to prayer, got on my knees, and asked him to help me let go of the old self and put on the new self.
The new self is the new beginning. A new creation, in Him.
What does the Bible say about newness of life?
Paul continues the theme about new life here in Romans.
Take a few moments to read this scripture and then pause and close your eyes. Feel if Christ is pointing out any specific parts to you.
Then read it again aloud.
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
How did that go for you? Did God highlight any specific part?
When I read it it made me want to bury my old self in a very deep grave so I never have to see it again. I don’t want to be a slave to sin any longer.
My new self is my newness of life.
Where in the Bible does it talk about being a new creation?
Paul talks about being a new creation to the people of Colossae. There was some false and heretical teaching going on and he was trying to straighten them out.
In his letter to the Colossians, he describes us as new creations:
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
It’s only in Christ that we are new creations. Apart from Him, we are dead. We are slaves to flesh and sin.
It’s also only by the Lord’s grace that our old selves died on the cross with Christ. He conquered the power of sin and we can let it go when we are ready.
Where to go from here?
The hardest part for me has been learning to let Christ do the work in me to make the new beginning or new creation. I can try and try to force it myself, but I always seem to fail and want to return to my old ways.
But when I learned to give Christ permission to work in me, it started to become easier.
I had to get submit myself to Christ in prayer. Here’s a prayer that you could use an a starting point:
In Jesus name, Amen!
Try praying that prayer or something similar and let him do the work! No need to strive out of your own strength.
For we are weak, but with Him we are strong.