Do you hate the ‘bed’ you made?

How is your Christian walk going? Do you represent Christ well? 

How well do you control your thoughts? Do you show honor to your spouse, your pesky neighbor – or that slow driver?

Every hour – every minute – we delay in recognizing and repenting of whatever sin we’re guilty of, we move further away from the person Christ is calling us to be. 

Charles Stanley said, “Our lives are shaped by our habits – the choices we make day by day.” Think about the sinful choices that have shaped your life. Have you “made your bed” but hate it? 

Today we can start over and head in a different direction by making the choices we wish we were already living by. 

Isn’t this great news?

In my last column, I mentioned how important an accountability partner or group can be in leaving our old life behind so we can grow spiritually. Going it alone is so much more difficult. We need someone in our corner who’s praying and encouraging us to choose God-honoring behavior.

The more we leave our old life behind, the more we’ll grow spiritually and the healthier our relationships will be.

In this week’s verse, baptism symbolically illustrates how a believer dies to his or her sin nature and rises to a brand-new life in Christ.

“We were buried therefore with [Christ] by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ESV).

Newness of life! Does this sound like something you’d like to have?

This can be the season (your season!) when you find help to increasingly love God more than you love your sins. It can be a time of great spiritual growth as you spend time with God daily, meditate on His Word and make yourself accountable to a trusted mentor or small group.

By God’s glorious and powerful grace, we can all experience victory and freedom from the shackles of sin. We can grow in our determination to faithfully obey our heavenly Father. We can finally believe – and experience – the today we’ve always dreamed of and be proud of the bed we’re making. 

I hope that as we submit ourselves to God, share Scriptures and pray with our accountability partner or group, we’ll experience deliverance from the bondage of sin and bad habits. And, when necessary, we can remind each other of God’s incredible forgiveness. 

Let’s begin by walking in newness of life today.

Sheryl H. Boldt, a Franklin County resident, is the author of the blog, www.TodayCanBeDifferent.net. Connect with her at SherylHBoldt@gmail.com.