Devotional presented to 614 Regent Park Corps Council, Monday, 14 September 2015
Read 2 Corinthians 5:14-19
How
can I experience a new life? We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone
is ‘in Christ’ he is a new creation; so then the answer is, if I become ‘in
Christ’ I will then have a new life – great. Let’s do that – but what is ‘in
Christ’?
When
we are ‘in-Christ’ we no longer act the same way as most others; we are changed
through changing our minds so that we can see and do the good things God wants
for us and others (Romans 12:2). Being ‘in-Christ’ is no longer thinking about
ourselves.
Just
the other night I received an e-mail from an old friend of mine who works in a
BC prison; I myself spent (voluntary) time in Stony Mountain Penn. We agreed
that many of the fellows there who are stuck, unable to change; the ones who
don’t get along with their fellow inmates and are threatening and litigious,
are the people who act upon ‘a perverse sense of entitlement.’
It is
this sense of entitlement, among other things, that embodies the old life for
each of us. It is this way of thinking
that traps us. The new life is experienced only as we change our minds to put
God, rather than ourselves, first. This is what it means to be ‘in-Christ.’ It
is simple but what can we do to get this new life? Well, nothing.
Jesus
has already provided the new life for us. It is very much like Spring. When
Spring has come, the temperature rises, the snow melts, the trees bud, the
flowers bloom and there is nothing any of us can do about that. Spring has
sprung.
However,
we do have the choice to experience Spring or not. If we stay inside our house with the heat cranked up full blast;
head outside wearing a parka, gloves and a toque; it doesn’t change the fact
that Spring has come; it just means we are very uncomfortable and we don’t reap
its benefits. The pre-Spring life is not worth living after Spring has come;
likewise, the pre-Christian life is not worth living now that Christ has come.
So to
this end I encourage us all through praying, meeting together, and reading our
Bibles to take off our toques and mittens, step outside let the Lord transform
us into a new creation now that the eternal Spring has indeed sprung.
How
are you experiencing the joys of the eternal Spring in your life today?
www.sheepspeak.com
[1] Based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay, How can I
experience a new life? Nipawin Journal (26 March 2008) On-line: http://sheepspeak.com/sasknews.htm#spring
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