When All Becomes New

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This past Thursday my co-pastor and his wife welcomed their second child into the world. It has been 7+ years since we last had a baby in our lives, so it has been fun watching the commotion around this little fellow. Eyes opening slowly to look around, fingers curling and uncurling, legs extending and bending all displaying the newness of life.

This got me to reflecting on one of my favorite descriptions of life in Christ:

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Take a moment to close your eyes and ponder this question: “What would it mean in your life for all things to become new?” Imagine a life where there was no past mistake, error in judgment, criminal record, first marriage, etc… Imagine for a minute that you had not been burned before, wounded by a friend or stepped on thoughtlessly. Imagine a carefree existence where only the future lay ahead, because the past has been put to rest.

I think if each of us is honest there are some things we would like another opportunity to do correctly, some pain we would like to altogether avoid and some guilt we would rather not be saddled with. All too often it is our experiences that are allowed to define us. The promise of this scripture is simple…today is a new day.

Christ expunged our sin record with His blood. What we do with that freedom today is our choice. We can both explore and experience the freedom of that newness or we can allow the past to hold us forever in its captivity.

Today if you are weighed down by the baggage of days gone by, I encourage you to try being a little infantile today. Open your eyes and look around at what has changed in your world. Stretch your fingers out towards the hand of God and enjoy the freedom of motion that He has blessed you with.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Throwing Out the Clutter

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This past week I began packing up my office as I enter into the final few weeks of my current pastorate. It is interesting the things you accumulate over time. Professional journals with an article you intended to read, but never got around to. A marketing piece from a company that may have something beneficial to your work environment, but there never seemed to be an appropriate time to follow up. Memos of decisions already made and acted upon.

In time, as the seasons of life change, these items simply become clutter. They take up space, but no longer hold significant value or meaning. Our lives can also become cluttered, hindered by things we no longer need to carry. Notice the words of scripture:

Hebrews 12:1 (HCSB)
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us…

Clutter…we all have it and if we don’t do something about it, we eventually have to move it. The reason I’m cleaning out the clutter from my office is to save me the exertion of lifting unnecessary boxes. I will need my strength for greater things than moving my clutter from one location to another.

In your life you are carrying some clutter too. The memory of a conversation that didn’t go your way a few years back; the flicker of that dream you had back in high school or the resentment over the promotion that passed you by last year. Each of these things was at one time deeply personal and fresh, but now these things have cobwebs on them and haven’t been utilized in years. Every day you choose to carry them, you are working harder than you need to. The effort required to move these extra boxes prevents you from performing at your optimum level in the things that really matter.

Today, I encourage you to begin sorting through the boxes and desk drawers of your life. Keep those things that add value to your life, but commit right now to throw out the clutter. After all do you really need those old business cards anyway?

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl