Good morning everyone! It's Friday!!! I am so excited. Joslyn and I have date day today. We are going out for lunch, to a movie, and possibly ice cream afterwards. She is such a cool little girl and loves her daddy dates. But, I think I love my Joslyn dates more. I have a question for you. Who are you? Let's look at that today and dig into some of the good stuff.
Bible verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
There is an old Arabia story about a lamp. This lamp was old and battered, but when rubbed, it produced a genie of great power and who ever rubbed it could command the genie to do anything. Well, this young man found the lamp and with it became rich and powerful and married a beautiful princess. This young man's name was Aladdin. Aladdin never let his wife know the power of the lap. One day a schemer, that knew of the lamps power, met the princess and offered her a brand new lamp for the old and battered one. The princess thought it was a great deal to trade the old battered lamp for this brand new, top of the line lamp. So, she traded lamps......
Now God also offers something. It's " new lives for old." Trading in our old clunkers (old lives). This is not a con like the schemer, but a blessed and thrilling reality. And with that new life comes God's blessed Holy Spirit and not a genie to make all things possible for us. God doesn't patch up our old lives, He gives us brand new ones.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. We really die and are born again. All the old is gone, we are a new creature. Does that mean as soon as we are saved, we are totally changed. Well, in a way yes and a way no. It means we are beginning a new life. We have changed on the inside. Once we have the Holy Spirit in us, we will begin to think different and act different. In Colossians 2:6,7, it talks about once you have received Christ as Lord of your life, it is the beginning. You must continue to follow his leadership by being rooted, built up, and established in faith. Christ wants to be there to help us with our daily problems. Paul talks about in verse 7, that we should draw our strength from Christ, just like a plant does so from the soil. The more we ask Christ to help with our problems, the less we rely on the world for our answers.
I know for me personally, before I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I tried to over and over to fix my problems. Everytime they might go away for a short period or be masked by something but, they would always resurface. When I finally gave control over to God, it was like a huge burden had been lifted off of me. I am not saying that everything changed right away. I am not even saying that I don't have problems now. What I am saying that things started to change little by little. I look back now and think "Wow, how could I have been that person and not realize it." I know the Bible says the old is dead and all things are new,and yes, the old Tony was dead and a new man was born. I believe that it takes work to become rooted in our Lord. When I gave my life over to the Lord, my growth was very minimal. I still wasn't always the best person heck, I still ain't now. But, in Colossians 2:7 Paul tells us " we must be rooted and built up in Him." I believe that our lives as Christians are just like gardens, it takes work. We must read our Bibles, we must pray, we must gather together with other Christians, and we must witness. The closer we draw to Christ, the stronger our roots will become. I know the more I read my Bible and learn about God and His plan, the better my life gets. How cool is that? We should all strive to become closer to God. I ask myself why everyone doesn't want what I have? Why are there some that deny God? Is it not great to know that all things are possible and we can have eternal life? That gift is so valuable and yet God gives it out freely to us if we trust in Him. How can we be greedy and not share that with every person we come in contact with. I think we should let everyone know how God has changed our lives and how He can change theirs. Let's do that today. Find someone and tell them your story of how you came to know Jesus. Have a great day, I love you, and God bless!
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