Daily devotional episode (Day 47) from the Naked Marriage Podcast "Summer of Scripture" series. Hosts Dave and Ashley Willis read 2 Corinthians 5:17 and reflect on the Christian idea of becoming a new creation. They emphasize embracing a new identity in Christ, not defining spouses by past sins or current struggles, and leaving shame—especially sexual sin or sexual abuse—at the cross. They encourage couples to speak grace into each other, seek Christian counseling when needed, and use ministry resources (xomarriage.com).
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Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we are releasing a daily devotional episode for your marriage. And over these 66 days, we're going to pull out one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talk about how it applies to your marriage. So if you listen to every single one of these episodes, you're going to have a comprehensive understanding of God's plan for your marriage. We encourage you to listen to everyone. Let's dive into today's scripture.
Hey there. Welcome back to the Summer of Scripture on the Naked Marriage Podcast. We hope you guys are enjoying this. If you could just leave us a review. If this is something you've loved and you'd like to see us do this again next summer, let us know in our reviews. Let us know over@instagram avanashleywillis. And also you can always send us an email whenever you'd like to reach out to us. We love hearing from you. All right, Today is day 47. We are in Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17. It says this. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone. A new life has begun. Another translation of this, it says, we become a new creation. And I just love that. That's probably one of my favorite verses.
It's a beautiful, powerful truth about the essence of the Christian life, the rebirth, the supernatural rebirth and new identity that God gives us. Because all of us, I think, have a hunger for a new identity. You know, we want to be born again. We don't put those words on it, maybe, but we all want. We want that moment to happen where we feel like we really step into our true self. And Jesus is the only one who can make that possible. And anything, anyone apart from him. It's going to be a counterfeit that we're stepping into. And so once we've stepped into that new identity, I think we have to live in that identity and we have to celebrate that identity. And for our spouse, you have to celebrate their new identity in Christ. And what that means is, like we talked about last time, you don't bring up all the old baggage. You don't try to punish them with all the things they've done before, to try to define them by their shortcomings or by their past sin or. Or even by their current struggles, but instead to help them be reminded that, no, you're a new identity in Christ. That's who you are, and to help celebrate that in them.
Definitely And I think as spouses, we do have such power in speaking into that. And I hope that after this particular episode, really talk to each other about anything that you might be holding onto from the past individually, but also as it relates to your spouse. You know, I do think sometimes, especially when we come into, you know, maybe being a Christian or growing in our Christian faith, there are little things that we tend to hold onto, and that's, again, a lie from the enemy. I think sometimes we believe the lie from the enemy that, you know what, maybe just to punish ourselves, we need to hold onto this one thing from the past. A lot of times it's sexual sin. You know, Paul actually addresses this on how sexual sin has a way of sticking with us because it's something we've done with our body, and it's powerful. I mean, it's meant to be. It's meant to be something that lasts because it was meant to be a way to really consummate a marriage. Right? It's a way to bring two people together unlike anything else. And so if we've had sexual sin or maybe sexual abuse in our past, we tend to hold onto that. And I think bringing it into marriage, too, we don't want to tell our spouse about it. We don't want them to look at us differently. And so what we found is couples, you know, who are holding on to sexual shame, they. They really end up blocking their heart and even their sexual experience with their spouse because they're not really dealing with that. And I would just say, especially when it comes to sexual sin that you've committed in the past, bring that to the cross. I want you to imagine that you have these bags that you've been holding onto your whole marriage, your whole life, since this happened, since you made those decisions that you just regret so much. And I want you to walk up to the cross with those bags, and I want you to lay them right down there. And then I want you to turn around and walk the other way, free from that baggage. You know, that's what Christ did for us. He died on the cross. He paid for all of our sins to where we leave it right there on the cross. We don't go to the cross, say we're sorry, and say thank you for paying for all my. And then take the bags back up and walk with them. That's not what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to leave them right there at the feet of the cross, and then we walk with our head held high because of what Jesus did. For us and walk in that freedom. And when it comes to sexual sin, in particular, as married people, when we're able to let go of that baggage and embrace the grace that we have in Christ, we can have so much more freedom in the marital bed, and we don't have to feel any shame. And we can really. We can really have an experience with our spouse that we weren't having before. And I want to also say, when it comes to maybe sexual abuse, I think sometimes those of you who've been sexually abused, you hold onto that as if that's your own sin, but that is not your sin. You did nothing wrong. That is someone else's sin that was acted upon you. And I just want you to leave that at the cross, not because it's anything you did wrong, but because you can have Christ carry that. That's not your burden to hold onto. He wants you to have freedom. He wants you to have healing. This usually requires you going to a. In the mental health industry. Go to a Christian professional who can walk you through this and really help you to heal through this. Because you did nothing to deserve that. You did absolutely nothing wrong. And it's such a tragedy and heartbreaking that that happened to you. But God, God can restore you. God can restore what was taken from you. And it is a process, but it is possible. And I just want you to know that God is with you and for you in that journey.
He is. And there's such freedom in that. Again, the new creation really grasping onto that reality that I'm not held back by things that were done to me, and I'm not held back by the things that I've done. Because with what Jesus did on the cross, he brought healing to all of it. He brought forgiveness to the sin part of what I did, and he brought healing by his wounds. We are healed to the wounds that were inflicted upon me by the sins of somebody else. And so walk in the freedom of that and help each other walk in the freedom of that. And like Ashley said, counseling and other take advantage of the other resources that are out there to help you get the healing that you need. And counseling, a good Christian counselor can be a big part of that. To be able to talk through it in a structured way with a professional, I think is often very good. If you as a couple ever need help, we have a team here at XO that you can reach out to@xomarriage.com help and they're available to meet with you by phone or by Skype. We have a wonderful team of trained mediators that would love to connect with you and encourage you and pray with you and for you. And it's just a wonderful aspect of the ministry happening here at xo. But the good news in all of it is you don't have to figure it out on your own. God designed us to be able to lean on each other and to carry each other's burdens. And that starts with our spouse, but then even beyond that, with mentors, friends, churches, counselors who can be there for you. So take advantage of those tools and live in the freedom that God has for you.
That's right. And guys, thank you so much for joining us today. We hope you join us tomorrow for day 40 18.
