Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

And what is that newness of life but leaving behind a sin-filled life and pursuing a God-filled life.  God is what was absent before we came to know Him, and His presence is what will make us new and our lives new and our hearts new.  Christ rose from the dead, and what He was after that wasn’t the same as the body that went to the grave.  So God can work in us to leave that old behind in order to become something completely new, something different than we used to be.

But we have to go through the process.  Jesus didn’t get to His glorified state without dying first.  And we’re never going to become what God intends us to be without first experiencing that death of self and sin and the old fleshly man first.  Because once that is dead and buried, that’s where the transformation takes place so something new and glorious and wonderful can emerge.

And so once we’ve become something new, we have to live as something new.  We can’t keep doing the same old things we used to do, but we answer God’s call for our lives and do what He wants us to do.  We aren’t invested so much in ourselves and our lusts and our pride, but we become invested in His work and the lives of people around us.  We let go of what is past and move forward into something else.  We truly live as someone risen from the dead.

The life we have in Christ is only because of Christ, so He must remain at the center of it all.  Our focus must be on Him.  Our hearts must seek more of Him.  Our minds must seek His truth and digest it and allow it to become a vital part of us.  And each day we must arise anew and choose to live in that newness of life instead of falling back into the old.  And when we are trusting Him and relying on Him, we will be able to do that.