Monday, June 06, 2016

Love Leads to the New Life

We have been discussing the new creation for the last little bit. Part fo the discussion has come from my personal thinking over the last year. Part comes the place in Scripture where I have been reading and meditating.

We saw how new life begins. We saw how there are fundamental changes in life. We saw how God is creating a new people, a new family. We saw how God’s children live and work in, and within, God’s purposes and plans. We saw how God crafts a new identity for each new child.

The writer of the passage says, “I get here and I have to stop.” He amazed, and overwhelmed at God’s outpouring. And he realizes the position that someone, who has just chosen to give his allegiance to Jesus is in. Everything is new. Everything is different.

Many may be tempted to grit their teeth, grab determination with both hands, and strive to live perfectly … and be doomed to failure, frustration and discouragement.

So, the writer is also moved to prayer. He prays for God’s children.

When we chose to follow Jesus, God sent his Spirit to live in our hearts. So, he prays for strength from that Spirit. Strength to choose correctly. The machinery of our lives has us running full-throttle, full-speed, down the tracks of the world. We need God’s strength to slow, stop, and move to a new path in life.

As we move to new paths, Christ fills those areas of change. Christ lays claim to habits, though patterns, and emotional responses. He acts to alter motives and perspectives.

As we continue to make corrections in our life paths, God’s design takes hold, and we prove God correct. God, re-building his design into each person, demonstrates his love … and we learn to cling to that love.

It is God’s love that motivates him to bring us into his family, to inject new spiritual DNA into our hearts, to jump start the rebuilding of our design, to demonstrate his character through us, and to partner with his family in expanding his kingdom. It is his love that is the foundation and the fulcrum. It is his love that is the lever.

Having a complete, detailed, extensive understanding of his love is vital. The goal of human development is Jesus Christ. The Father wants everyone to look like Jesus. And it is how completely, and thoroughly, you grasp his love, that determines how far each human progresses.

So, the writer prayer for people to grow in knowing, understanding, and recognizing God’s love. As that light shines bright in our inner being, we move closer to completeness.

No comments: