The New YouSample

### New Life Begins If we aren’t intentional, our health and wellness slowly start to slip away as our days get busy with the demands of family life, work concerns, and messy relationships. The pull is so subtle that sometimes we don’t even recognize it until months or years have passed. One day we wake up, look around, and think, How did I get here? Personally, we each decided to stop being carried by the current of bad habits, tastes, and temptations. We took a hard look at the truth about our health and wellness and put a plan in place to get back to the fullness of life God had in store for us. As we set out on our journeys toward health and wellness, we began to understand a transformational truth: God has a plan for our health. Our bodies are the living, breathing, and walking-around temple of God’s Spirit. That reality has implications for how we care for ourselves physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. A new, correct perspective on God’s purposes for our health and wellness is a game changer. After all, if God has entrusted us with these earthly vessels, it’s time to treat ourselves well so that we can fully engage in our Creator’s purposes for us. If you are a Christian, God has declared that you are a new creation in Christ: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17). But even though we have been deemed new creations in Christ, many of us aren’t living that way. Instead, we are frustrated, overweight, short on time, low on energy, dealing with chronic lifestyle-related health issues, stressed about work and family, unable to say yes to God’s plans, and not experiencing fulfillment. Can you relate? Here is some great news: walking in the reality of your new life in Christ doesn’t hinge on trying harder or doing better. First and foremost, it is about surrendering to the fullness of your transformed identity in Him (we’ll unpack that to this week)—and then doing your part to live out that fullness in every aspect of your daily life. That’s right: it is a partnership with God. God wants us all to live full, active lives, accomplishing the things He put us here to do. He wants us to be free to live and love well. We have a responsibility to cooperate with Him to make that happen. What area of your health—physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental—is the hardest to envision having success? Pray and let God know what feels defeating and discouraging and ask for His help.