The other day I was reading my Bible and I felt God tell me to go read Colossians, specifically chapter 3. I didn’t know why, but I went for it.
In Colossians 3, verses 9 and 10, the Bible says “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices (10) and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
In these verses, Paul is writing to the Colossians and is talking about putting away old things (sin) and bringing in the new things, which are of Christ.
It’s funny because he really tries to drive this point home by saying it twice in two other books of the Bible.
When Paul talks to the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:22-24 he says “(22) …put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, (23) and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, (24) and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
One more time, Paul talks about the newness that we have in God in 2 Corinthians 5:17. “(17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Before the Race, I was struggling a lot with worldly desires and wanting to be myself, rather than follow what God wanted me to be. As I’ve gone on this journey with Him, I’ve learned how to put off that old self that just wants to be part of the world. Over time, I’m slowly learning what it’s like to put on the newness of Christ and what He brings to the table.
I apologize that the personal part of this blog is shorter than normal. I have not been feeling well for the past couple of days and it is hard to focus sometimes. Prayers are greatly appreciated.
Also, please pray for the English ministry that we have here in Rivne, Ukraine. This week, we started our adult Christian English classes so we teach a Bible lesson entirely in English. The theme for this week’s English classes is “Love Above All” and we are teaching about how powerful God’s love is for us and how we can show it to others.
This morning, my leader Mason and I got to meet up with one of my adult student from this week, Valentyn, for a walk in the park and some coffee. We spent about an hour and a half with him, talking about everything from his dreams/aspirations to cultural things. We eventually got to the subject of God (thank you Mason). We asked Valentyn if he had a personal relationship with God and he told us that it was easy to have a relationship with God when he was at church, but it was hard for him to do it outside of church. He said that he didn’t understand God’s love sometimes because he felt like God only loved you if you went the right direction. We explained to him that God loves us and is within us all the time, but only if we allow Him to. We talked about this for about 45 minutes and he seemed to understand a lot. At the end, he said “I did not understand all of your words from your speech, but I felt the warm from it in my heart. I feel God from you.” That was really touching to hear and we felt the Holy Spirit moving in that coffee shop. We prayed with him and talked for a few more minutes before we had to leave. We will see him again tonight at English classes and he expects to come for the rest of the week, so that’s incredible.
Please pray that Valentyn continues to feel God’s love within himself and that he will be able to accept it and share it with others.
