Monday, January 1, 2018

New Year, New Day, New Life

2Corinthians‬ ‭5:17‬ ‭- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

New years tend to bring resolutions. Everyone's idea what a good resolution might be will be different. I guess resolutions are okay. There is one that is the best! Later....

It's a new year and a new start at the beginning of the Bible. We know the accounts of Genesis 1. All of creation, newness of life. As I was reading I noticed something I'd not thought about before. God made man in His own image, male and female He made them. It made me pause to think that later it was said that Adam saw that all the animals had mates but he did not. I looked up a commentary on this. 

Though there is a time when God is explaining to Adam that he would tend all living things, Eve was not there. It never clicked that all living beings were created on the same day. It just never clicked that it wasn't days after that Eve was created. As the commentary also suggested...that only one male and one female were created, to show that hereafter a man was to have at a time no more wives than one... And...The Jews give these reasons why man was made on the evening of the sabbath, to show that he did not assist in the work of creation; and that if he was elated in his mind, it might be told him that a fly was created before him... Duh, yah! 

I say all that because it was glorious as it was originally done, in God's eyes it was good. Didn't take long to corrupt...so that throughout the rest of the Bible we are shown our sinful natures, God's redemptive plan, His love, judgment and mercy...so much so that He made a way that we in our sinful natures, received at birth, might be made new, through a new covenant, through His Son Jesus. 

In Chapter 2 it points out that God, the LORD God, had made, made, formed, breathed, planted, took, commanded, said, caused all things. Remember that. It's all about God. 

In Chapter 3 we already see how sin entered the world so quickly after God's glorious creation. All that new life in a short period of time corrupted. All God's perfection. Man's determination to be like God through the temptation of a snake! Which temptations are still going strong today. In our self-centeredness, pride, stubbornness and sinful natures. 

So back to new life which is attainable...only through God's power. 

  • We cannot suggest that we are better than someone else. (Remember, He created a fly before creating you!) 
  • We cannot think that if we try on our own to be a better person, He will accept us. 
  • We cannot compare ourselves to someone else, whether they be better or worse. 
  • We are all on the same level. 
But we can attain a new life comes when we enter in to relationship, as the Bible suggests, with Christ, the Lord. 

We just celebrated Christmas, the birth of our Savior. It shouldn't have just been about gifts and food and fun, just another holiday away from work. We celebrated the birth of our Savior, the one who was born to live to die that we might, if we receive Him into our lives, have eternal life. 

There will be a day when all God's perfection will return. And some will be able to enjoy it. Not all, just some. Imagine for yourself, if you do not know this God, a new life in Christ this new year. Today, even. Make this your resolution, to know Him. This new world that will come, God's perfection can be our eternal resting place. This world is not our home. Seek Him and He will be found. Call on His name. Believe. Trust He will come and change you. If you truly want this new life, He will hear your call. 

John‬ ‭17:1-3‬ ‭- Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

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