♪You redeem and You transform, You renew, You restore. You make all things new!...You turn winter into spring, You take every living thing and You breathe Your breath of life into it over and over again!...Now and forever You are making all things new!♫ -Steven Curtis Chapman "All Things New"
You know what sucks?...Not being good enough. Thinking that we are not good enough and never will be gets to even the best of us. No matter how good we are, there is always some one who is better and is ready and willing to prove it. Those times when you think you are never good enough, always affirm that and remind yourself that you aren't...that's right, you are not good enough. None of us are, and yes, it sucks. But you know what's amazing? Even though we are not good enough, we can become good enough. No, not by doing all the right and good things, Titus 3:5 says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us." We can become good enough when we are covered by the blood of Jesus.
Above is a song that I have known and loved for years, and I really thought that it, and the message it conveys, deserved a blog. So what does all of this have to do with the song above? One of the images in this video says that God is the Ultimate Recycler; I like that, so let's start from there. God takes us as trash and instead of giving up on us and throwing us away as if we were useless junk, He recycles us. He is continually reshaping us into a new mold of the person He wants us to be. He not only recycles us, but, like the song says, He redeems, transforms, renews, and restores. The main verse that this song comes from is 2 Corinthians 5:17 which reads, "Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!" If you have ever read the Bible to any extent you may notice something strange about this verse. Also, you may have never noticed it...there are very few verses in the Bible that have an exclamation point at the end of them. I believe this small punctuation mark at the end, makes this verse so much more powerful than if it were not there. Paul is exclaiming the joy that can be found in becoming a new creation in Christ. Having all of the old things taken away from you and given a new take on life is the ultimate reward for making a life-changing decision!
Now what if you think you're really not good enough to be recycled, not worth anything, and not even God can save you? We have all done those things that we would never want anyone else to find out about, but these is always hope. Like the song says, God is in control of the seasons, He gives us life, He allows the sun to rise every morning...so why wouldn't the creator and controller of the universe be able to handle our problems and forgive us. Nothing and no one is beyond forgiveness. He tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that His grace is enough for us.
I challenge you to beg God to recycle you like Asaph (Samuel's nephew who wrote a handful of psalms) did in Psalm 80:3. He says, "Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved." The first time around for recycling within Christ is accepting Him and allowing Him to do such a thing in your life (Romans 10:9). He has made everything beautiful in its time (Eccl 3:11), and the time to start recycling is now.
No comments:
Post a Comment