11/6/26

Day 6

The Old Has Gone

Biblical Focus: New Creation

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

There is a strange tension in transformation. On one hand, we are being changed “more and more” (Day 3). On the other hand, Paul says you have become a new person. Already. Past tense.

Both are true. At the moment you belonged to Christ, God did something complete: He made you a new creation. Your identity changed. Your standing changed. Your nature changed. Transformation is not becoming someone new. It is becoming outwardly who you already are inwardly.

This matters because many believers try to transform from the wrong identity. They see themselves as old sinners trying to become saints. So they fight sin from a place of defeat, expecting to lose. But Scripture calls you a new creation fighting the leftover habits of a dead man. You are not trying to become clean. You are clean, and you are learning to live like it.

The caterpillar does not become a butterfly by flapping harder. The butterfly is already encoded inside it. Your new life in Christ is already present. Transformation is the slow unfolding of what God has already placed within you.

So stop introducing yourself to God, and to yourself, by your old name. Liar. Addict. Failure. Coward. That person died. The old life is gone.

The Practice of Transformation

Write down the old label you still most often call yourself. Cross it out. Beneath it, write who God says you are, using Scripture: new person (2 Corinthians 5:17), God’s child (1 John 3:1), God’s masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10). Read it aloud today.

✦ Reflection ✦

What old name do you still answer to?

Prayer: Lord, the old is gone. Teach me to live as who You made me, not who I was. Amen.

Become outwardly who you already are inwardly.

Help Choose Our 2027 Devotional

As this year of Wrapped in His Presence comes to a close, we're praying about where the Lord is leading us next, and I'd love your help deciding. There are three possible journeys for 2027:

•   Refined: The Refiner's Fire (Malachi 3:2–3)

•   Abiding Fruit: From Presence to Overflow (Galatians 5:22–23)

•   Wounded to Carry: The Ministry of Comfort (2 Corinthians 1:4)

Please pray over them, then vote here for the one that stirs your spirit.