Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Today’s verse starts at a place where you probably need a little bit of information to get to the point we're discussing together.
Paul's Letter to the Believers
What we're seeing here is a letter written by a guy named Paul to a group of people that he has great affection for, and wants to see them formed and shaped into the way of Jesus as they live life alongside one another. The instruction that he gives here is something that is so vitally important for the follower of the way of Jesus to experience in their life, so that they can become the people that God intends for them to be here on earth.
The Spirit's Renewal Power
When he says here in this verse to let the Spirit renew you, he's referring to this idea that requires renewal. Right before this—in the verse ahead of what we've just read—Paul is talking about the old manner of life, and he says there that we should put that down and we should take on this new way of living that can only be informed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The reason I think this is so important is many of us who are seeking to follow the way of Jesus on earth find ourselves, from time to time, stuck in old patterns and rhythms that have been established in our lives that we hope we could break free from. What we hear in these words on these pages are the ways forward that would allow us to be able to live differently, that the Spirit would have the opportunity to make things new.
Hardware and Software
I think the best way that I think about this idea has to do with hardware and software. Think of any piece of technology you have—maybe you're even watching this on a phone or a computer. What you have is made up of these two major components.
The hardware is the screen, the buttons, the things you can touch and feel. Even if you open it up, the circuit boards and all the things that are inside are physical pieces that make this piece of technology. That's the hardware.
The software, of course, isn't tangible. By touch, you can't feel it. But it's vitally important to make this piece of technology work. It's actually the software that tells the hardware what to do.
The Computer Virus
I don't know if you remember this from way back in the day. I have some gray hairs here, so you can—if you're like me—remember that there were times where you might get a virus on a piece of technology. Maybe some of you had a computer and you saw the screen just turned blue because something was infecting the way that the computer worked.
In those instances, there was nothing wrong with the hardware. The physical way that the computer worked was completely fine. It was actually a problem with the software. It was the information that told the computer how to work that got corrupted.
New Software for a New Life
The only way to fix it wasn't something physical on the outside. It was to get some new software. That software can turn perfectly good hardware into something that is useless if it is infected.
Paul is saying right here is that the Spirit of God can give us human people new software, and it will inform the way that we live. That puts down the old way we used to think and now takes on a new way of living for God's glory.
The Holy Spirit Does the Work
I don't know where you find yourself today on your journey in the way of Jesus, but I want to encourage you that the new self—the person you desire to be for the glory of God—can be found at the hands of the work of the Holy Spirit, doing the work inside of us, renewing and restoring our software that tells this person, this shell, this human self that we're living in, how to live for the glory of God.
