Trying to Fix the Old Me… or Living From the New Me?

I no longer sweep up the dead leaves—I walk the new path where Christ is my life.

A Conversation About Self-Improvement, Identity, and the Power of Resurrection Life

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
“You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” – Colossians 3:3

A Conversation After a Counseling Session

Ryan:
So I’ve been reading a bunch of Christian self-help books lately. You know, trying to break bad habits, think more positively, be a better version of me. Some of it’s helpful… but honestly, it feels like I’m just dressing up the same old mess with better behavior. Like I’m trying to renovate a house with a cracked foundation.

Me:
That hits close to home. I did the same thing for years—trying to patch, polish, and manage the “old me” into something more Christlike. But then the Lord showed me: He’s not in the business of fixing the old man. He already buried him. And He gave me someone entirely new.

Ryan’s View: God Wants to Improve Who I Already Am

Ryan nods. “But I thought sanctification was about becoming better. Like Romans 12 says to renew your mind. And in Ephesians 4, Paul says to ‘put off the old self and put on the new.’ Isn’t that a process of improving?”

He flips through:

• Galatians 5:24 – “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh…”

• Romans 6:6 – “Our old self was crucified with Him…”

• Colossians 3:5 – “Put to death what is earthly in you…”

“So I get that the old self died… but why does it still feel like I’m dealing with him every day?”

My Response: You Don’t Fix What’s Dead—You Live From What’s New

I smile. “That’s a great question. And those passages aren’t about improving the old—they’re about reckoning it dead and learning to walk in the new.”

I flip to 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…”
And Romans 6:11 – “Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

“You’re not called to patch up the old self. You’re called to believe it’s gone. Yes, the old patterns—the ‘flesh’—still linger in your mind and body. But the real you? The you that God sees? Has already been raised to walk in newness of life.”

Fixing vs. Living: The Difference Between Effort and Resurrection

Ryan looks up. “So when I try to fix myself, I’m actually trying to repair what God already declared dead?”

“Exactly. And that’s why it’s so exhausting. You weren’t meant to manage sin from the outside. You were meant to live from Christ on the inside.”

Galatians 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
That’s not a metaphor. That’s your new spiritual reality. You’ve been united with His death, burial, and resurrection. You’re not slowly becoming a new creation—you are one. Now the Spirit is teaching you to live like it.

A Grace-Oriented Appeal

If you’ve been trying to fix the old you—pause.

The Cross wasn’t a rehabilitation program. It was a death sentence… followed by a resurrection.

You don’t have to improve the old man.
You just need to believe he’s dead—and trust the One who lives in you now.

So today, stop trying to change yourself for Christ.
Start letting Christ express His life through your new self.

You’re not who you used to be.
You’re alive. You’re free.
You’re His.

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