I love the fact that God has been and continues to be at work restoring people to a right relationship with Himself. Since Adam and Eve fell from their perfect condition, He has been at work and He hasn't given up yet!
In the Old Testament we read the accounts of God's chosen people, Israel, who continually disobeyed and turned from their God. But He always came after them - asking them to repent, seek after Him, follow and love Him. In the book of Ezekiel He makes this statement not just once, but twice.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26 & 11:19)
And so today, with you and I, He continues His work. The Apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5 of all that God is up to.
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
The desire that God has for us is that we might live in harmony with Him. We are all dead because of sin. Our deadness is demonstrated by the life we live which is centered around ourselves. But God, in His love for us, sent His Only Son to die for us, in our place, to set us free from our sin and give us life. The new life that we now live is to be demonstrated by being centered on God rather than ourselves.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
The work that God is doing in us is a new work. We are a new creation...the old has gone...newness has come to take its place. Yet for many of us, myself included, we sometimes continue to live "as we were". Nothing has changed or is changing. We are comfortable with where we are. We are satisfied with simply being "set free from the penalty of our sin". But God wants to "re-create" us...to give us a new heart and spirit, to replace our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. He is desiring to move us along a path to restored relationship with Him so that we live in harmony with Him and are involved in the work that He has for us. The truth is, He wants us to be different than before. Each and every day moving in His direction...repenting of our sin, seeking after Him, following Him, obeying Him, loving Him.
And so, in this new year, will we be content and comfortable to stay where we are in our relationship with God? Or will we desire to see His work in us move forward? Will we continue to live for ourselves OR will we live for the One Who has saved us?
"Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights rese
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