Are you a new creation?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
(2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV))

Anyone who has accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior has a tremendous reason to celebrate!

We like to celebrate the passage of time by having a major event at the transition from the last day of one year to the first day of a new year. In all honesty, this celebration is nothing more than a time to celebrate the fact that we made it through another year. For this simple fact, the whole world celebrates and then within just a few hours, we are back to the very same things as before the celebration.

What if we could celebrate something that would leave us completely different? What if we could celebrate receiving a gift so magnificent that it changes our eternal destiny? What if we could discard our sinful nature and replace it with the very nature of God through the gift of His Son, Jesus?

Each one of us was physically born into a sinful world and we inherited a sinful nature. That nature has condemned us. That nature has destined us for eternal separation from God. Through the gift that God gave us in Jesus, we can replace that condemnation and that destiny with a grace filled rebirth. We can be made new! We can repent and take hold of the promises of God. We can be made better than new! We can be made new in the image of Christ!

Are you a new creation?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Is it time for a transition?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV))

Nothing in this fallen world lasts forever.

Everything has its season. Everything has a period of time in which it is appropriate. What is appropriate for one moment will not always be good for another period of time.

Life is full of stages. These stages are extended moments in time when your life seems to settle in to a nice, familiar pattern. Then things start to change. We see the transitions as a time in which uncertainty scares us to death. We don’t realize that the transitions are only temporary and that we will soon begin a new stage in our lives in which we will develop new familiar patterns.

At each stage, we experience life and we learn what God has to teach us in order to prepare us for the next stage. He is leading us down a path that will bring maturity and wisdom if we will only recognize where He leads.

My son is at just such a stage in his life. He is weeks away from graduating from high school. I suppose that he is not the only high school senior who feels this way, but I believe that he is not ready to make that transition. To be honest with you, I have been in a similar situation before. I was facing a transition that I was not sure I wanted to make and it scared me.

We have all had those types of transitions in our lives!

We are not ready to leave a season in our lives out of fear, out of familiarity.

How can we grow? How can we mature if we are fearful of where we are being led?

God did not create us to be stagnant and complacent in our lives, yet, all too often, we are just that. We see where God is leading, and we are afraid of the change. We are too comfortable with the time that we are in to see the glory and grace in the time where He is leading.

God gave us life.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
(John 10:10 (NIV))

Think about that for a moment.

Would life be full if we spent every second of every day in the same season? Would you appreciate grace if you have never known sin? Would you appreciate content if you never knew need? Would you appreciate love if you never experienced loneliness? Would you appreciate laughter if you never knew tears?

God did not promise us a perfect life if we accepted His Son, Jesus, as our Lord and Savior, He did promise to be with us through everything, through every season.

Human nature is a funny thing, for it can override the faith that we profess if we let it.

If God is with us, why do we fear the transitions?

Copyright 1998 – 2010 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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