Now Is The Time - Station 3

PUT ON THE NEW

Supplies Needed

- suede or leather strands (cut to bracelet size)

- blue beads

"...for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature..." - Colossians 3:9, 10

STOP LIVING IN THE PAST... FORGET THE OLD, EMBRACE THE NEW.

Sometimes the sins we commit are hard to let go of, the mistakes we've made are difficult to forget, and the wounds we've received just won't seem to heal. In this passage, Paul reminds us to stop living in the past, to forget what's already happened and embrace what can become. Our old nature, a life marked by sin and evil actions, is stripped away and we are given a new nature; one marked by love and forgiveness. Martin Luther named our former nature "the Old Adam." He said that the Old Adam in us is daily drowned in the waters of our baptism and that a New Man emerges. Through Christ and his blood on the cross we are made new. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: the old has gone, the new is here!" So we need to start living like new creations, freed from the sin that once enslaved us... not hung up on the past... not committing the same sins over and over... not living apart from God.

Now is the time to put on something new. Take a leather strand and three blue beads. These beads represent the water used in your baptism and the three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in whose name you were baptized. Place the beads on the strand against the knot and then tie another knot to secure the beads. When you have finished constructing your bracelet, place it on your wrist. Wear this bracelet as a reminder of the new life you have in Christ and through your baptism. Remember that your old sinful nature has been stripped and washed away and that Jesus clothes you with a new nature; clean and forgiven.

Take a moment to pray to God. Ask Him to strip away the sins in your life, the ones you struggle with and the ones that keep causing you to stumble. Ask Him to wash you clean and forgive you for your past mistakes. Ask Him to send His Spirit into your heart to allow you to truly live as a new creation and embrace the newness of a life in Christ.

When you have finished praying you may move on to the next station.