A Fresh Start and a New Life

I love watching life come back. Trees bud, birds sing. Fat squirrels bounce around with tails twitching. Like us, they’re excited to get out in the sunshine and fresh air.

Did you know that Lent means spring? Makes sense. As we look forward to Easter, we focus on the way to new life. It’s not fun to think about the cross. But it’s good to remember.

Jesus’ place of torture and humiliation is where we find salvation, life, and victory. What seemed to end in death, didn’t. What seemed to be a loss, wasn’t.

Anything and anyone can be redeemed.

Salvation means deliverance, rescue, recovery, or escape. If we need to escape or be rescued from something ~ it must be pretty awful. And it is. It’s our sin nature.

We were born with this tendency toward rebellion. We’re also born with the desire to find purpose and connect with our Creator. We want to be good people and live good lives. Hence our inner struggle. 

When we try to change wrong thoughts and behavior,  sin is right there waiting to mess with us. We really are our own worst enemy.

So, we follow rules to keep us on track. They set healthy boundaries but they can’t change our hearts. Without heart change, we go right back doing or saying or thinking what we don’t want. We stay stuck in a vicious, self-defeating cycle.

That’s life in our power, on our terms. Feels like freedom. But, we’re human, so it’s really bondage. Sin is sneaky like that.

Pastor and author, Tony Evans says, “Rules without relationship equals
rebellion.” 

Again, it feels free. But, it’s a slow kill from the inside-out. Our spirits starve. Something is still missing and we hang our heads.

How did I get here … again?

And shame slithers into that hollow, hurting place.

But, look up, my friend.

What seems a loss, isn’t. What seems to end in death, doesn’t. The cross, Jesus’ darkest hour, invites us into our brightest days. 

New life ~ true life ~ starts right now. In our heads and in our hearts. When we truly believe there’s a truer, freer way to live, we stop trying to clean up on our own. We decide we want an all-in relationship with Jesus. It’s that profound, yet this simple:

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ~ Romans 10:9-11

These aren’t magic words. But they do create a miracle in us. This wholehearted decision rescues us. Boom. Just like that. By faith alone, we trade death for life. We invite Jesus in to set things right between us and God and we stand before our Father as if we never sinned.

Forgiven. Now that’s freedom, baby.

Sin is no longer the boss of us. Jesus is. The one who beat sin and shame and the grave.

So, all hunky-dory-happy ever after, right? Nope. While we have a new nature in Christ, the old one tries to hang on with its unhealthy habits and mindsets. Temptation comes ~ stinking like roadkill ~ but we see it for what it is: the road back to pain and humiliation and death. But, thank you Jesus,  that’s not who we are anymore.

We resist, we pray, we rest in the finished work of Jesus.  

Sweet child of God, salvation is just the beginning. As we move forward in our faith, we find our divine design. Rising to new life ~ our true life ~ we understand Easter, our greatest celebration ever. 

Thanks for hanging with me. Please listen & soak in your freedom.

 

Image by Bess Hamiti from Pixabay