New Life. Typically when I hear those words my mind goes to 2 Corinthians 5:17 and the new life available to each and every one of us in Christ. My mind can never get around our great God's plan for salvation; how we can come to Him and admit that we are sinners and ask for His forgiveness, choose to commit our lives to Him, and He'll grant us forgivenss. He'll even cause His Holy Spirit to come and live within our spirit so that we never have to be alone again. So that His power is available in us. All this never ceases to boggle my mind!Yet......do you know that even though I know and have experienced all this, I have still chosen at times in my life to turn my back on God?
Sometimes it's been in little ways like being selfish in a specific situation in a relationship. Sometimes it's been in big ways like choosing to live in some kind of ongoing sin.
But always, when I grow tired of doing things my way, when I realize once again that my disobedience is not taking me anywhere that I want to be, I return to God. I have no illusion that my return to God is about any learned wisdom on my part; I truly believe it's about His goodness and grace that seeks me out, that draws me back to Him. When I come back, He not only takes me back, but He totally forgives me
and gives me a new chance, a new beginning.
One of my favorite Bible passages is about this very thing, it's the third chapter of Lamentations. I'm especially fond of the way the 19 - 24th verses read in The Message paraphrase:
I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember— the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.
When I start to get discouraged I often return to this passage and remind myself of these truths found here. That though I may have chosen to "swollow poison", God's love hasn't run out. He is faithful even when I'm not (another favorite Bible verse of mine is 2 Timothy 2:13 ).
What about you, what new beginnings have you experienced?
4 comments:
God is like a father to us. Always gently leading us and guiding us to Him. It is human nature of the flesh and earthly temptations to divert our paths in serving Him. Some times those temptations are so severe that we fall but He is always there to pick us up and lovingly again embrace us with His grace.
Tracy
I LOVED the scripture from the Message. That version often hits me deep and hard and I thank God for it.
I can't think much of the words of a hymn I am thinking of but the words "prone to wander" come to me.
I so relate to that...I am prone to wander, sometimes in sin and sadly sometimes I just seem to forget God IS my Life 24/7. I don't want to be like that and yet I am and I am dissatisfied being that way. That is probably a GOOD thing...It makes me keep pressing in and keepin' on!
Yes, the life make-over is a wonderful thing.
The best part is I can do it now, or in 20 minutes or not at all.
I think what I finally learned is that we don’t fix the old man, we let him die so that the new man can escape.
Tracy, I just love your writing style. You have a gift for taking more complex issues and making them easy to digest. Your narratives flow so easily.
I just wanted to say that I've been a fan of your writing for going on 2 years and look forward to many more. I don't always comment (a blogger's annoyance I know), but I do always read and enjoy.
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