New Life In Christ
LENT 2025 DEVOTIONAL:
John 11:1-44 (NIV)
(Felix Yeo, Senior Pastoral Team Member, Pastor-in-Charge’s Office)
The passage promises a new life, a resurrected life, not one in the distant future but one that begins now and continues into eternity. As it says, “And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (v26a, ESV). This means that our journey with Jesus starts immediately, the moment we believe. Our transformation into this new and eternal life begins when Jesus calls out to us, “Come out!” (v43, ESV) and commands the release from the sins that bind us, saying, “Unbind him, and let him go” (v44, ESV).
For some, this transformation happens dramatically and quickly, like a sudden awakening. They experience a profound and immediate change in their lives. For most, it is a slow and struggling lifelong journey. This gradual transformation involves daily steps of faith, continuous learning, and persistent effort to overcome personal challenges and grow closer to Jesus.
One of the many lessons I have learned in my own journey of transformation is to surrender to Him and to let Him redirect all that I am to Himself and His purposes, to surrender to Him my sinful nature, my anger, my pride, my desires for worldly experiences and material wants. So that my anger can be redirected to righteous anger, toward injustice, to right wrongs and defend the weak. So that my pride is redirected to witnessing and boasting of His work and grace. So that my desires are redirected to desiring the things of God, things that belong to Him. Transformation happens when we are redirected, where our beliefs, values, habits, thoughts, and actions are redirected from serving our sinful nature and self-interest to serving our Lord who has given us new life.
Let me encourage you to let this redirection transform you. It happens day by day and is strengthened through daily reflection and prayer, bible study, Christian community support, and acts of kindness and grace, putting on Christ daily.
Reflection Questions:
1. What is it that the LORD wants to unbind in your life? Is it wilfulness, anger, envy, greed, pride, lust, or laziness?
2. What is it that the LORD has directed you to surrender so that He can give you a new life and purpose?
3. What are some steps you can take to obey God, so that you can turn away from darkness into His marvellous light?
