Reflecting on New Life
I am sitting here, sipping coffee, taking time just to breath in and out on this Sunday afternoon. I love days like this, to rest, reflect and refresh. Taking my backpack downtown with my husband and going where the wind blows us is a fun break from the busy schedule of our week. As we walk around, sit and sip coffee, and do lunch, I am reflecting on the concept of new life, and on growth.
Images of plants, trees, babies, farms and vegetation fill my head. I know there are many analogies with planting, protecting the growth by using stakes and pruning to allow more growth, but I’m not well versed with gardening lingo. However, I have experienced many forms of new life… in building friendships, creating businesses, growing a family, and artistic expression in my walk of faith. In each case there is a spark of life that ignites us to spend time and energy into the growth of something new. It happens in a flash, like an epiphany, moment of clarity or inspiration that suddenly comes to you. The life is there, but that spark may not grow or ignite into something more unless it is stoked and tended to. We have to be fully invested in it’s growth. This is true of the process of birthing a baby, a business, an invention, a work of art or a new life of faith.
God has the spark of life we need, and He shares it with us freely. We first encounter it in many ways… a thought, a feeling, a visual image, or a desire. We are told many times in the Bible that the gift of new life has been provided for us through Jesus’ death on the cross, and His resurrection from the grave.
In Romans 6:4, it says, “ …just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
How you respond to this gift determines the health and strength of the life He’s given you. It isn’t enough just to believe without changing the way you live your life. Accepting the new life, means you have to reject your old life and the way you are use to relating to people, making decisions and searching for acceptance. It is choosing to follow God’s way of living the new life, even when it gets hard and you don’t see results immediately. Think about an embryo developing in the womb, there is no shortcut to the time it takes to deliver a healthy baby. And there is no shortcut to experiencing a joyful, peaceful new life in Christ, apart from obeying what He tells you. He instructs you to follow Him for your health and well-being, so you are able to partake in all the goodness and blessings He has planned for you.
If you have traded in your old life for this new life in Christ, are you tending it? The things you do day-to-day will either build your faith experience or tear it down. Give your new life a chance to develop; protect it, nurture it and invest in it.
