Repudiating the Old and Bringing in the New—Part 2

Just as John’s clothing signaled the end of one season and the dawn of another, our lives now reflect the newness we’ve received in Christ.

📚 Devotional Credit:
eManna – Watchman Nee and Witness Lee

📸 Photo Credit:
Unsplash

John the Baptist lived his message. Born into a priestly line, he had every right to wear linen and eat from the altar. But he chose camel’s hair and wilderness fare. His life was a walking contradiction to the religious and cultural expectations of his day. Why? Because he wasn’t called to preserve the old system—he was called to break with it.

This radical break wasn’t rebellion—it was preparation. John’s lifestyle testified that the old mixture of religion and human culture had no power to transform. The true hope lay ahead: Christ and the Spirit of Life. John’s entire way of living—where he stayed, what he wore, what he ate—was a declaration that something entirely new was coming. And to receive that new way, people had to let go of the old one. The camel’s hair, the locusts, the wilderness—they weren’t theatrics. They were living signs that God was introducing a new covenant based not on externals, but on the living presence of Christ.

📓 Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit through Scripture:

I raised up My servant John, not to prop up an old framework, but to clear the way for a new beginning. His rough garments and wild diet were not poverty, but prophecy. He stood at the threshold of two ages and cried out for hearts to prepare—not by adjusting their habits, but by turning their eyes from systems to the Savior.

Even now, I call you to let go of what is merely cultural, inherited, or safe. I do not ask for outward rituals, but for inward surrender. The former things have passed away. You are not called to improve the old man—you are a new creation. You do not live in the wilderness, but I have brought you into Myself.

Let My Son be your center. Let My Spirit be your atmosphere. Let My life be your provision. When you walk in Me, you are no longer bound by expectation or tradition. You are free to live as one who has died with Christ and now walks in newness of life.
(Scriptures: Matthew 3:3–4; Luke 3:2; Romans 6:4; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:17)

🔍 Real-Life Analogy:

It’s like cleaning out your closet when seasons change. You don’t just rearrange winter coats when summer arrives—you pack them away because they no longer suit the climate. John’s camel hair was not a fashion statement—it was a signal that the spiritual climate had changed. The old system no longer fit.

🙏 Prayer of Confidence:

Father, I thank You that I’m no longer tied to systems that cannot give life. You’ve brought me out of religion and into relationship. Out of formality and into fellowship. Christ is my new beginning, and the Spirit is my new way of living. Today, I live from what You’ve already given—newness, freedom, life. I rest in Your provision and walk as one who belongs to the age of grace, not the shadow of the law. Thank You that I am in Christ—and Christ is in me.