Colossians 3:10 — Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him.
The way of Jesus is so, so, so much better than you could ever imagine.
At times, it does ask things of us that feel unnatural—release, forgiveness, surrender—but it returns to you what your soul has been aching for all along.
I picture Him standing on a hillside, looking at people who may have every reason to hold grudges, every reason to protect themselves, and every reason to demand their own way. But He says the unthinkable. He says love your enemy. Bless the one who hurt you.
That’s His way: to loosen my grip when I’d rather clench tighter, to forgive when bitterness feels right, and to trust Him when my plans seem clearer.
Here’s the tension. Everything in me wants control, but everything in Him invites surrender. What He asks can feel impossible. Because forgiving doesn’t feel strong. Surrender doesn’t feel strategic. Trust doesn’t feel efficient.
It feels exposed.
And yet every yes to Him becomes a doorway into freedom. Forgiveness unclenches the war in my chest and lets peace rush in. Surrender lifts the weight I was never built to carry. Trust steadies my heart when impatience threatens to undo it.
I see Him again—kneeling with a towel, washing dusty feet that will walk away from Him. He is teaching not just with words, but by his posture, showing me that strength in His kingdom looks like humility. Losing your life is somehow how you find it.
If I refuse His way because it feels unnatural, I miss the renewal my soul is craving.
Because that renewal doesn’t come from striving—it comes from knowing Him, and letting that knowing change me.
This is the invitation: to put on the new self He has given me, to let my mind and heart be renewed as I learn to truly know the One who made me, becoming more like Him instead of clinging to the old version of me. That’s what this is. Not behavior polishing—heart-level renewal. Following the teaching of Christ when the old way feels more familiar. Choosing His image over my impulses.
In the soil of obedience, something sweeter grows. His way is gentle where the world is harsh, kind where life feels cruel, and wise where my own understanding fails. To walk with Jesus is to learn that joy doesn’t hinge on outcomes, but on presence. What feels like loss can become gain.
The bottom line is this: His way reshapes you into who you were created to be.
So I’m learning to open my hands. To forgive quicker. To surrender sooner. To trust deeper. Not because it feels natural—but because I want the new self He’s forming in me.
And that renewal begins the moment I say yes to His way.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
- What part of following Jesus feels most “unnatural” to you right now—surrender, forgiveness, or trust?
- Where are you tempted to cling to your “old self” instead of stepping into the new one?
- How have you experienced real change—not from trying harder, but from knowing God more?
- What might it look like to choose His way in one specific situation this week?
- What is one area where God may be inviting you into deeper renewal?