God did not send Christ to renovate your old life. He calls you to die to the old life and live a new life in Christ.” Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”
CHRIST DID NOT COME TO MAKE THE OLD YOU BETTER
Imagine buying an old, damaged house. You clean the rooms, repaint the walls, replace the doors, and you put new furniture inside. From the outside, everything looks beautiful. But underneath the paint, the foundation is still broken. That is how many people approach Christianity.
They say: “I need Jesus so I can become a better person.” So they try to improve: their behaviour, their relationships, or habits. But Christianity is not fundamentally self-improvement. It is death and resurrection.
Jesus did not come merely to make the old nature comfortable. He came to give us new life. The Gospel is not “Improve yourself.” The Gospel is “Die to yourself and live in Christ.”
THE OLD SELF CANNOT BE REFORMED
Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him…” Notice the language Paul uses. He doesn’t say: “Our old man was educated.” Or “Our old man was improved.” He says: “Our old man was crucified.”
The problem is the old nature that lives independently of God.
He calls us to surrender that old life.
RELIGION CAN CLEAN THE OUTSIDE — BUT CHRIST CHANGES THE INSIDE
This is one of the great dangers of Christianity. A person can become religious without becoming transformed. They can attend church, sing songs, or serve in ministry, yet still live according to the old self. Jesus confronted this kind of religion.
According to Matthew 23:27, Jesus compared religious people to whitewashed tombs. It is a powerful picture which is beautiful outside but dead inside.
You can change your appearance without changing your heart. You can change your clothes without changing your character. You can change your environment without changing your desires.
Only Christ can make us new.
THE CROSS IS NOT DECORATION — IT IS DEATH
We often wear the cross. We put the cross on the walls. But the biblical cross means something much deeper. The cross represents death. Jesus died on the cross.
In Galatians 2:20, Paul says: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
DYING IS NOT A ONE-TIME EMOTION
Some people have a powerful experience with God. They pray. They cry. They feel God’s presence. But Christian discipleship is not simply about one emotional moment.
Jesus said, in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
YOU CANNOT LIVE THE NEW LIFE WHILE HOLDING ONTO THE OLD LIFE
Imagine someone trying to walk forward while constantly looking backward. They will eventually stumble.
Many Christians seek both worldly and spiritual values. But Christ calls us to something different. In Luke 9:62, Jesus said: “No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Following Jesus requires direction.
DYING TO THE OLD SELF MEANS CHRIST BECOMES THE CENTER
Now return to Galatians 2:20: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
Christianity isn’t simply: “I am dead.” It is: “I am dead to the old life so that Christ can live through me.” The Christian life is not an empty life. It is a Christ-filled life.
ZACCHAEUS — A PICTURE OF A CHANGED LIFE
In Luke 19:1–10, Zacchaeus encounters Jesus. And something changes. He doesn’t simply say: “Jesus, I feel better now.” His encounter with Christ produces repentance. He says he will give to the poor and repay those he has cheated. This is genuine transformation.
When Christ enters a person’s life, eventually something begins to look different. Not because the person is trying to impress God, but because Christ is changing the person from within.
THE RICH YOUNG RULER — A CONTRAST
Now look at another man in Matthew 19:16–22. The rich young ruler comes to Jesus. He appears religious. He has morality. He has possessions. He has status. But when Jesus asks him to surrender what controls his heart, he walks away. This is because he wanted eternal life without surrendering his old life. He wanted Jesus, but he didn’t want Jesus to become Lord over everything.
And this is the question every Christian must face: “Is Jesus simply part of my life, or is Jesus Lord of my life?”
HOW DO WE KNOW THE OLD SELF IS DYING?
It is not by perfection but by direction.
A Christian may stumble, may fail, or may even struggle. But there should be a growing desire to obey Christ. According to Galatians 5:22–23, the fruit of the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The evidence of new life isn’t the Bible verses we know, but it is the Holy Spirit that is producing a Christ-like character in us.
THE OLD LIFE HAS TO GO
Paul gives us a powerful picture in:
Ephesians 4:22–24. We are told to: put off the old man, and: put on the new man.
Think about changing clothes. You cannot properly put on new clothes while refusing to remove the old ones. Likewise, we cannot continually feed pride, bitterness, lust, greed, hatred, jealousy, and selfish ambition and expect the new life to flourish.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS DEATH BEFORE RESURRECTION
There is no resurrection without death. Jesus died and rose again, and Romans 6 connects our identity with that pattern: death to the old and life in Christ. Sometimes God will ask you to let go of something you desperately want. Maybe it is a relationship, a comfortable lifestyle, pride, or a habit. It may feel like death.
But remember: God never asks you to die to something so He can leave you empty. He calls you to die so that you can live in Christ.
