Dear Cherished of God,

  God bless your hearts. As this new year is getting up to speed, I can't help but think of God's perspective of "newness" as it relates to everything in our Christian walk. We can live a life of newness.

Romans 6:4 (Weymouth Translation)
Well, then, we by our baptism were buried with Him in death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from among the dead by the Father's glorious power, we also should live an entirely new life.

  That fresh living began at our new birth. Or as someone said, "If you don't like the way you were born, try being born again!"

I Peter 1:3b (New English Bible):
...God.. .gave us new birth unto a living hope...

  Challenges seem to try to pull us back into our old man nature, in contrast to the encouragement of God's Word to be freshly renewed and revitalized by living in the "new man." Christ in us is our perfect new man, spiritually. That's "the real Kevin
[insert your name!]." Then, as we live like the Word prescribes, the real me, the new man nature of Christ is manifested by my life!

Ephesians 4:24 (New Living Translation):
You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness- righteous, holy, and true.

Colossians 3:10 (Weymouth translation):
And have clothed yourselves with the new self which is being remoulded into full knowledge so as to become like Him who created it.

Galatians 6:15 (Weymouth translation):
For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only a renewed nature.

  I become more Christ-like as the new man is the pattern for my on-going personal transformation. We, individually and as a Body, grow more like our Lord until we see Him face to face. By practicing the renewed mind, we are "newing-up" our minds; we are continuously constructing a renovation of mind.

Romans 12:2 (Bible in Basic English translation):
And let not your behaviour be like that of this world, but be changed and made new in mind, so that by experience you may have knowledge of the good and pleasing and complete purpose of God.

  Every day, every moment can be a fresh, renewed and renovated perspective. We're restored and remodeled in Christ. We never label ourselves or other believers by sin, failure, weakness or shortcomings. If we do, we are only magnifying the old man
nature. Let's focus on the new man nature that truly defines us! With our Father, we have the potential for perpetual newness. We can actually live our new birth in the present...a freshness, a vitality, a renewal. In God's forgiveness, we have a new
beginning at every moment. No matter what old weakness, old failure and old sin try to throw our way, His forgiveness is deep and wide; it is as vast as His love. We have a NEW birth, we're a NEW creation, a reNEWing of our minds, a NEW life, we have a NEW message for the world, and we have a lively hope with the promise of NEW bodies toward a NEW heaven and earth. We've been renovated and renaissanced! In our God-given newness, each moment is a new beginning!

Happy New-You!