BIBLE PASSAGE:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:
The old has gone, the new is here!
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
MEDITATION:
How many times have you heard someone say, “I am bored”?
Life can have many ups and downs which creates in us a desire for consistency.
Sure, we enjoy the ‘ups’, but the ‘downs’ can create a valley that lacks joy.
However, the scriptures tell us that we don’t have to live that way,
because we can exchange our current life and attitudes for a new one.
We can all make a choice to – develop a new relationship with Christ.
When we are “in Christ”, we discover that we can
find humor and pleasure in the things that used to irritate or frustrate us.
We also find that we have a new level of forgiveness.
Perhaps someone has wronged us and we have been holding on to bitterness.
Bitterness is like an emotional cancer
that eats away at us and destroys our happiness.
The only real cure for bitterness is sincere forgiveness.
With Christ in us, we find that we have the ability to ‘freely’ forgive others.
Getting even, or punishing them is no longer important to us.
Why?
Because we have an awareness of how our own lives
have offended Christ and yet He has forgiven us.
He established the example for those “in Him” to follow.
Sometimes we have problems and we have developed a habit
of blaming someone else for the issues or attitudes we are experiencing.
When that happens, not only does it damage our relationship
with the other person, but when new issues arise,
we quickly blame them, and lose our desire to be around them.
We can create an environment where neither of us ‘enjoys’ being around the other.
Instead of enjoying the ‘quirky’ and different traits and habits of another person,
our bitterness and disdain for them is increased by the things they do.
We replace the joy of being with the person with criticism and soon everything
the other person does becomes an irritation and a source for more bitterness.
It is a pattern that can be eradicated when “Christ is in us”.
The forest consists of many trees and sometimes during autumn,
we can see that some of the trees hold their leaves until spring.
Their leaves wither and turn brown, but they don’t drop off the tree.
Not until spring, do these trees lose their leaves,
when the new leaves push out the old ones.
That is exactly what happens to our old habits
and our old lives when “Christ is in us”.
The new life pushes that old life off and we become new.
It’s not a matter of plucking off just one old leaf here or there
(the Christian life is not forged in that manner).
Our new life completely replaces our old life when we are born again.
ACTION:
Have you been struggling with attitudes and emotions
which are stealing the joy and peace from your life?
Have you been harboring bitterness caused by a lack of forgiveness?
Are you missing out on the happiness you believe Christians should experience?
Has your relationship with another person transitioned from joy to toleration?
If your answer to any of these questions is, “Yes”,
then it may be time to assess “how much” of Christ is “in you”.
If you believe in God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, and you believe
that the scriptures consist of messages from Heaven, then you can
trust them to provide valuable information for enhancing your joy of living.
Ask the Lord to show you
where you may be trying to live the Christian life in your own strength.
Ask His forgiveness and surrender your will to His today.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, you see the struggles in my life and You know
how many of them are self-imposed because I have failed to surrender
some areas of my life to You. Forgive me and help me in my efforts to
totally surrender to You and allow Christ to be in me. I know that when
He is in me, not only will my life be better, but I will be better to those
around me. Thank You for Your forgiveness and show me where it is
lacking in my own life. Remind me of Your forgiveness and guide me
in forgiving others, even if their response is not what I expect. Thank
You, Jesus, for all You made possible for mankind when You willingly
sacrificed Your life so that we could appear righteous before our
Heavenly Father!”
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