Spring has sprung, for many of us this is a time of rejuvenation and spring cleaning. Out with the old and in with the new. It’s great to do this in our homes, but what about in our lives? Do we really make time to clean out the old and make way for the new?
The bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 — This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
When we accepted Jesus into our lives as Lord and Saviour we let go of the old and stepped into a new dimension
How amazing is it, that even the passing of the seasons can remind us that we too are made new, made clean and pure in the sight of God? That the former things that weighed us down or held us back are in our past, and we can step into a new season ourselves, because we have been reborn and made anew in the eyes of God.
However, would you make fresh lunch for your child to eat at school, but send him his lunch in a dirty lunchbox? You wouldn’t would you. In the same way, when we are made new, we cannot carry on with our former ways and our former life.
Ephesians 4: 22-24 — that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth
Matthew 9:17 — Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.
The bible teaches us the simple truth that if you are a new creation you have to set aside those things from your past that are not pleasing to God and step into the new that God has created for you.
Every day is like the first day of Spring in our lives, because every day that we have been given, God gives us new chances to grow and learn and have a closer walk with Him. Being made new does not mean we will never stumble and never fail. That would make us perfect beings, and being human we are not perfect. We strive for perfection, but we are not perfect. But stumbling does not mean giving up. Just like the earth has a new birth in Spring after the death of Winter, so too have we been given a new birth when we were first born again and a new birth every morning that we open our eyes. We are to shed the old and begin a new chapter each day in our walk with God. Regardless of how far you may have strayed, or how deeply you may feel you have fallen, God is waiting with arms open wide for us to come to him with a contrite heart and ask for forgiveness so that we can get back on track with the plans that He has paid for us.
So, in this new month, the very first month of Spring, let us spring into the future that God has waiting for us. He has said to us in Jeremiah 29:11 — For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Let us spring up into the new that God has given to us, walk with the joy of the Lord, knowing that we are constantly made new, made clean, as we are washed in the blood that saved us, and sanctified in the sacrifice He made.