Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Have you ever owned a brand-new suit or the perfect dress?
How did it make you feel the first time you wore it? Many of us would agree that dressing up is nice—it makes us feel different, special. It can even change the way we behave … sometimes. I can remember my mom saying about me on more than one occasion, “I can make him look like a gentleman, but I can’t make him act like one.”
The truth is that a nice outfit or a great haircut makes us feel good and can affect how we look at the things around us. The problem is this feeling is only temporary. Eventually, the newness of our suit or hairstyle wears off—and with it goes our outlook on life.
So what do we do next? We try harder to find the things that will make the feeling last longer, but sadly, it never does. This is the worldly reality, but God’s reality is much different.
God calls us to make an inward change … to take on a whole new nature … to change the way we think.
Colossians 3:10
Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
How do we do this? Not by trying harder! Instead, we must shift our focus to who God has called us to be. When we focus on who God calls us to be, we take on a completely new identity. Unlike a superhero’s secret identity that shifts back and forth from the old to the new, we leave our old self behind and form a new identity in Christ Jesus that lasts forever, never looking back.
The beauty is this identity has no prejudice, anyone can adopt it.
Colossians 3:11
In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
So how does this change look? If you truly shift your focus to who God calls you to be, you don’t need that fresh new suit or outfit to change how you see things because you will be clothed from within by the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 3:12
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
God calls us into a new life with him, and through it, he puts to death our old way of life. Is it time for you to make the change?
Questions:
Are you living out your best new nature?
Do you believe you are who God calls you to be?
Next Steps:
Focusing on God and putting aside our old self is so important that there are many verses in the Bible relating to it. Here are a few to check out:
Tune in next week for the final message of the Firm Foundation series.
Prayer:
Loving Father, you have given me so much—more than I deserve or could ever repay. All you ask of me in return is to believe in you, accept the truth of what Jesus did for me, and shift my focus on who you call me to be. Give me the strength to cast aside my old ways and truly change the way I think and act so that others will see you in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Series Theme Verse:
Colossians 1:23
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.