DAY 12 – New & Different

Devotion

You are a New Creation! What good news this is. Praise God that we are not the sum of our mistakes, the things we have thought and done wrong, because I don't know about you, but I sure ain't perfect. When we ask Jesus into our life, the Bible tells us that we are a NEW CREATION, that the old has gone and the new has come. God gives us a fresh start, a clean slate. He forgives us of our sins and everyday His mercies are NEW. But it gets better, because once we are in Christ not only are we made new, but we are different/set apart. You know what? I feel like this isn't necessarily something that everyone wants to hear straight away. Comparison is everywhere...on social media, at school and everywhere else. We can work so hard to 'fit in' and be like everyone else that being told we are 'different' doesn't feel like a compliment. But today I want you to understand the beauty and the power in the truth that you aren't just a cookie-cutter version of the next person. You have been set apart, chosen, hand picked by God. There is a unique, unlike-anyone-else purpose and destiny upon your life. God has recreated you to be set apart from the world, a light on a hill! Your light, the power of what Jesus has done in your life, plus your personality & your gifts were not designed to be hidden or conformed to society's patterns or ideals. You have been created to stand out, to be different. So today as you read through these scriptures would you take some time to think...when everyone else is gossiping at school, what does that look like to be different? When everyone is going out and partying, what does it look like to be different? When everyone is compromising what they believe in, what does it look like to be different? What does being set a part look like for you today?

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:15-19 NLT

He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

Matthew 5:14-16 NLT

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.