Day 1: The Gift of New Life

Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 

 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
 
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Footnotes

[a] 2 Corinthians 5:17 Or Christ, that person is a new creation.
[2] 2 Corinthians 5:21 Or be a sin offering

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Devotional: 
"The old life is gone. A new life has begun." These aren't just beautiful words—they're a divine declaration over your life. When you belong to Christ, transformation isn't about trying harder or doing more; it's about receiving what Jesus has already accomplished. God doesn't ask you to clean yourself up before coming to Him. He invites you to come as you are, and He does the transforming work. Today, reflect on what "old things" you're still carrying that God has already declared gone. Your past failures, shame, and sin have no claim on your new identity. You are not who you were. In Christ, you are completely, radically, wonderfully new.