Listen to this devotion
It’s time for a new look! A new life! A new self!
In the Word
Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better. Yes, you must be a new and different person, holy and good. Clothe yourself with this new nature (Ephesians 4:23–24 TLB).
Of the Word
Ann impatiently flipped through the clothes hanging in her closet. Quickly she evaluated each outfit, dismissing every one — too old, too drab, too tight!
Wardrobe crisis! Changing clothes becomes pretty simple compared to changing our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. God’s Word encourages us: … get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to … destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness … (Ephesians 4:22–24a GNT). Sound impossible?
God comes to our rescue with His gift of Baptism. By our Baptism, then, we were buried with him [Christ] and shared his death, … by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life (Romans 6:4 GNT). In our Baptism the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. Now … you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to … (Romans 8:9a GNT). You are not the same anymore. A new life has begun!
Walking with my Lord
Holy Spirit, move in me. Control my thoughts, my behavior that I may be holy and good, reflecting Christ, my Savior. In His name. Amen.
Mustard Seed: Walking with My Lord. Author: Donna Streufert. 6/30 ©2007 Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, 801 Seminary Place Ste. L010, St. Louis, MO 63105. www.lwml.org
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations were taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from THE LIVING BIBLE, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, IL. Copyright © 1971.
Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken from the GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION – Second Edition, American Bible Society, New York, NY. Copyright © 1992.