Reflection: Roll With The New

Faith requires a willingness to change.

We understand that in Christ, we receive a standard, and we receive grace.

Jesus sets the bar for how we should live, and though he makes it look easy, it’s impossible. We fail constantly. We don’t have the ability to do it.

So he gives us grace, his unmerited favor.

And grace does two things. It empowers us to accomplish things we can’t on our own, like love our enemies, or forgive people who have hurt us. And it gives us the opportunity to try again when we fail.

But the walk of faith calls us to never stop chasing the standard. We run to Jesus, we leave behind limiting ways, and we start something new.

And that means we need to practice a type of spiritual amnesia.

In Philippians 3:13-14 NIV, the Apostle Paul said “13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

2Corinthians 5:17 NLT says that “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!“

These two scriptures offer a combination essential to growth: perseverance and renewal. While we cannot heal something by denying it’s existence, and must be willing to see ourselves clearly, warts and all, we must nonetheless keep chasing the outcome we desire. And to do that, we cannot waste time wallowing in regret. We cannot reside in yesterday’s failure.

We must inhabit today’s opportunity and look to tomorrow’s promise.

So In the words of Zechariah 4:10, Let us not despise the day of small beginnings, and let us choose to finish well, being confident, in the words of Philippians 1:6, of this, that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

We don’t have to have to have all the resources, or all the answers at the beginning of the process. We rarely will. And things may get tougher as we proceed.

The one thing we cannot afford to do is quit.

Jeremiah 29:11 says My plan for your future is filled with hope. The good news is that the frustrations of the present do not limit the hope of the future. God’s plans remain good. His Word will not return to Him void.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 says. I have given you a new heart and put My own Spirit in you. The good news is that trauma does not define us, fear does not confine us, and that pain does not own us.

Philippians 2:13 says I am at work in your life through the desires of your heart. God will incline us toward the things that will grow us in Him.

John 3:34 says I give My Spirit in unlimited measure. He is a God of spiritual abundance: abundant revelation, abundant power, and abundant truth.

God’s plans for us are specific and profound.

The harvest is great, but the walk is narrow.

The opportunities are abundant, but the choices are fewer

Revolution in each of our lives will look different, but for each of us it will require surrender.

I pray today that we release, quickly, everything He demands of us, whether it makes sense to us or not.

Because His understanding Is complete. His timing is perfect. And we can do no better than his best for our lives.

The revolution may not be televised, but as you let your light shine, people will see your works, and bring glory to God. So let it shine, beloved. And let God use you.

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