Becoming New
A Devotional Guide for Letting God Transform Your Life Through His Word
by
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A New Start
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
—2 Corinthians 5:17
I am always blessed by this text, and it is often a verse that I meditate upon at the beginning of each new year. Only with Christ do we truly have a new beginning. We can put aside everything that has gone before and allow him to create in us all that we were meant to be from the beginning. How exciting is that!
When another new year rolls around, my tendency is to think about all the ways I have failed to live up to last year’s resolutions. But God does not want us to spend our precious moments looking back. His Word says that the old is gone and everything is becoming new. This does not mean that we should never look back, because sometimes you have to look back in order to move forward. However, I spent too much of my life trapped by the past, focusing on what was and all of my failures until God interrupted me and showed me a better way.
If I belong to Christ, then I am a new creation! Hallelujah!
This year, my desire is to allow God to make me all that he has created me to be. Without him, I am lost. I am nothing. With Christ, I am made new. I can be all that he desires me to be. This is not because of anything in me but because of his promise and his work in me. I am so thankful that God is not finished with me yet, and I celebrate today as a new beginning to become all that I was meant to be. I hope you will join me!
A Change in Thinking
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
—Philippians 4:8
Transformation is not instantaneous. It is a process, and the process begins when we let God transform our thoughts. Because we live in a very negative culture, it may be necessary to return to this important lesson often. Someone is always grumbling about something, and it is so easy to join in. We can get stuck in a pattern of very negative thinking. In fact, when God first challenged me with this verse, I remember noticing that none of my thoughts fit his standard! I had to ask him to help me even find the first good thought to think! However, day by day and moment by moment, I have learned to take each thought captive unto Christ.
When I have a thought that is not up to his standard, I reject it as not from the Lord and make a very conscious effort to think about all of the good things in my life. With God’s help, I have made great progress, but it is very easy to let negative thinking infiltrate again, so it is important to continually monitor my thoughts. When our thoughts begin to be more positive, so will the words that come out of our lips!
What a difference one little change can make! Let us bless others with our words today as our thoughts line up with God’s standard.
Being Transformed
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
— Romans 12:1–2
I remember the night I first came to understand the meaning of this verse like it was yesterday. I already believed in God and had asked him to forgive my sins, but that night I learned that God wanted more for me. He wanted me to give him my life.
How could a life as broken and worthless as mine be of any use to God? I finally surrendered and offered my broken, pathetic life to God and told him he could do whatever he wanted with it.
Oh, what he has done with it! He took my brokenness and made me whole. He took my fears and gave me faith. He took my anxiety and gave me peace. He took my worthlessness and gave me purpose.
I woke up the next morning with a changed heart. Everything around me looked so much brighter, and my heart was filled with joy. The work of transformation which began that night has continued moment by moment, day by day, as God has been molding my life into a vessel he can use.
I am always amazed when I look back and see what I was compared to the person I am now. There are still areas of my life that he is transforming as he continues to teach me to think about my life his way. He is faithful and will finish what he began all those years ago.
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About the Book
I was challenged as a young Christian woman by the notion that, as Christians, we should be distinctly different from others around us. According to God’s Word, when we trust in Christ as our Savior, we become a new creation, but that is not what I saw. I asked God, “If this is true—and I know your Word is true—why are so few Christians actually being transformed? Why am I not being transformed?”
This devotional is the culmination of the lessons that followed those questions. God does not instantly transform us into new creatures. The evidence is clear on that! The instant we accept Christ as our Savior we are declared completely righteous, but the process of transformation continues for the rest of our lives.
As I learned to apply God’s truth to my daily life, he has been faithful to transform what was broken into something beautiful. He took my fears and taught me to live by faith. He took my strife and taught me to live in peace. He taught me to trade my anger and bitterness for love and forgiveness. I have learned to trust instead of doubt. I am filled with hope instead of hopelessness, and my sorrow has been turned to joy. He took my feelings of worthlessness and helped me to understand my value in his eyes.
I believe it is my calling to share with others how God longs to transform their lives too. We can stay as we are, or we can allow God to teach us a better way. With his Spirit to empower us, we can continue becoming the people he intended us to be. I hope you will join me on this journey to becoming new!
About the Author
Kathy Foor, author of Psalms for Life, serves in her church as the children’s ministries director as well as the director of the choir and praise team. Passionate about the Word of God since her InterVarsity Christian Fellowship days in college, Foor has spent the years since then learning to apply God’s Word to her daily life. She enjoys sharing her passion for Christ and his redeeming love at women’s ministry events, retreats, Bible studies, and Sunday school classes. She and her husband live in Western Pennsylvania.