Tag Archives: New Life

Second Chance: I Peter 2

Posted on July 3, 2019 | Leave a comment

I Peter 2
√ Re·new·al: the replacing or repair of something that is worn out, run-down, or broken

2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

§§§

God has designed our bodies from the inside out.  It’s a good design.  We have an internal structure that our entire body is built around.  We are born the first time with everything in miniature, a tiny skeleton along with tiny muscles and organs that all need to grow in relationship with one another. 

The second time we’re born it’s another version of miniature but still a new life.  We’re still “newborn babies” and still based on God’s original design..but this time we’re aware of life in relationship to God and equipped with faith to “grow up in your salvation.”  There’s a new structure that requires different muscles and organs; “your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” that must grow in relationship with one another into the spiritual house God has designed you to be. 

This is God’s truth: ”you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  Go big!

Leave a comment

Posted in 1 Peter, Wednesday

Tagged , , , , , ,

The Firsts: II Timothy 1 – Fly!

Posted on March 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,… 3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day…. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you… 13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Long before I recognized Jesus as “Savior” I believed he was the Son of God.  Those two things are very different but even in those early days I knew enough to ask: “how can you overcome that life teaches you to build a protective shell around yourself?”  That reminded me of this short video.  It’s a visual picture of what’s at the heart of evangelism; the desire to nurture the vulnerability of new life with “the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus.“ It’s also a lesson about what the heart of an evangelist looks like; prepared, persistent and present.

Do you remember when you were freed from your protective shell you were stuck in?  Do you remember how helpless and exposed you felt? Was there an “evangelist” who maybe looked like a neighbor or friend who was prepared to nourish you with their “prayers night and day…by the will of God…according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus?”  Maybe today, you’ll have the chance to be an evangelist for someone longing to break out of their shell. This is your reminder: “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you… Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard…” Fly!

Leave a comment

Posted in 2 Timothy, Sunday

Tagged , , , ,

Special Gift of Access

Posted on December 16, 2018 | Leave a comment

I’m diverting from II Corinthians because at the moment you’re reading this I’m on the high seas for a 3-day cruise but thanks to WordPress I can schedule this story and at the appointed time [I hope] it will be told.

Thank you Lord  for the image of “your” new life, your Son, lying in a Cradle of circumstances.  This time of preparation shows us how important this annual pilgrimage is to our celebration of that birth and that Cradle.  It was your own preparation for us that made Advent a celebration at all and Jesus your special gift of access for us.

We all enter the Kingdom of God through that same Cradle: another “new” life born in the midst of a broken world.  The Cradle still contains the memory of God’s preparation.  It still holds the promise of what new life can become through the stories of wise men, shepherds and angels, even in a still-broken world.  That Cradle is the shelter of God’s provision for us when there doesn’t seem to be room for us anywhere else.  This annual journey shows us one more time where we’ve come from,  where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.  There will be emotional and physical joy and hardship involved in that journey but…

• We have wise men today that have found their special path to that Cradle to offer their treasure and then share their story with us so we can follow and find our way too.

• We have shepherds today who despite their own fears rise and boldly share your Story.

• We have angels in our lives who sing your praises and share your promises of renewal, restoration and grace that prepare us to recognize and receive your gift of forever…again this year.

It’s glorious to remember isn’t it?

Leave a comment

Posted in Advent, Sunday

Tagged , , , , , ,

Advent Journey

Posted on December 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

II Corinthians 7:13b In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14 I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. 15 And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. 16 I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.

Paul’s phrase about Titus, “… His spirit has been refreshed” has become this part of my Advent journey.  Long ago the Sovereign God first chose to create new life from dust and a rib…and here’s the key to remember: God was there with those new people, when their spirits were refreshed he shared that intimacy in his own Spirit.  When that relationship was ruined he could justly have chosen to end the poison of sin right then and there, but for the second time he chose life for them.   

They would live with the consequences of that poison – their own brokenness and separation from God, but they were not abandoned.  The people he loved had been caught in an unnatural separation but God would continue to offer to refresh their spirits through the instruction and opportunity of the law and prophets until…“The Advent.”  

Jesus Christ, Son of God was born!  For a third, and final, time “The Advent” is God’s choice for new life. This time his choice is an eternal one for us; a relationship that will save, restore and refresh our spirit with his Spirit for the rest of time.  Paul’s words describe the refreshed spirit of Titus but they read like God’s own words of encouragement for our choice this Advent journey.  “And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling.”

Leave a comment

Posted in Sunday

Tagged , , , ,

A New Message

Posted on December 5, 2018 | Leave a comment

I Corinthians 7:8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

Paul’s reference to sorrow caused by his letter has been my Advent preparation trigger.  I read his words as if they were God’s words.  Sorrow began in that place of creation where those first two people lost their perfect status as companions of God.  Life would go on…and on…and on…and that lack of perfection would continue to be a source of sorrow, so God wrote a letter to his people on tablets of stone.  That “letter” clearly showed the solution to worldly sorrow but their damaged mindset was still the problem.  They “thought” the answer to their loss of perfection, and the sorrow it caused, was to be more committed to trying harder.  

Fast forward from God’s letter to that “first season” we now call Advent.  God was going to show his creation a new message: Jesus Christ, Son of God born as the antidote to the poison of man’s damaged mindset.  Jesus Christ, Son of God born as the image of restored perfection and new life.  Jesus Christ, Son of God born to overcome the futility of worldly sorrow and reveal the power of Godly sorrow.   “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…” Jesus Christ, Son of God, born to be our Christmas Joy.

Leave a comment

Posted in Wednesday

Tagged , , , ,