Romans 6:4 (AMP) - We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life.
If you are in Christ you have died to your old self, been buried with Him, and have been raised with Him also into your present NEW life in Jesus!
Why do I see so many people digging themselves new graves? Trying to find a NEWER life in something else? Forsaking the true NEWNESS that is real and which used to be sufficient for them.
It's disturbing. It's sad. It's potentially spiritually genocidal because it never affects just one person.
Just as new life is infectious to the spreading of the gospel, so is the dampening of a once beautiful and vibrant spirit.
When I watch NEWNESS turn to OLDNESS it is ground won back to the devil. Or perhaps he had never really lost them to begin with. Emotional whirling dervishes can appear pretty convincing in overtly enjoying their new flavor of the month.
What is dead should stay dead. You do not want to go back and start resurrecting the old you. That person wasn't really very pleasant.
The shallow grave of the backslider is sprinkled with seed that refuses to take root. The sower has tried. Some sprouts may have even sprung up, but the heat of daily living, or a new fad the ravens have delivered to them is just too much for a new growth to sustain.
I'm not fooling you or myself on this "NEW" day today. In reality it is not "NEW" at all. It is a continuance.
For you who are shaken from your foundation today for whatever reason, you are in for a continuing saga that does not end well.
2 Peter 2:21-22 (AMP) - For never to have obtained a [full, personal] knowledge of the way of righteousness would have been better for them than, having obtained [such knowledge], to turn back from the holy commandment which was [verbally] delivered to them.
22 There has befallen them the thing spoken of in the true proverb, The dog turns back to his own vomit, and, The sow is washed only to wallow again in the mire.
When the Word starts to refer to the wanderer and backslider as dogs and pigs, it's not good. You may even think your new found "religion" is serving you well. It's still mud and puke. You will smell and look bad no matter how much you think you have improved your SELF.
While even though you may have bought a new calendar, and today is the first day of a "New Year", it is really no different than yesterday. We are on a continuum from beginning to end. There is no reset button. Nothing magical happens today.
You are who you are in Jesus Christ. TODAY.
The question for today, as it will be tomorrow, and next year, is...who are you?
Who are you? If you are defined as anything less than you were last year at this time in Christ then you have lost ground my friend. And losing ground once gained in Christ is a magnanimous loss.
My prayer for you as 2013 begins?
That you find yourself. That you know yourself. That you reaffirm yourself.
This will either excite you or simply fall flat. If your relationship with Jesus is still vibrant it will make you shout because you have never doubted who you are, and it's still like the first day you met Him!
If not, than you have already been captivated by your new dalliance. Remember...there is no static living. You are either moving away or moving closer to Jesus.
If we are going to move against the gates of hell a little bit further, than let's do this together shall we? Let's link arms and advance together!
If your heart is not in it, and your eyes betray to me your lack, than get behind us and hold on. There is hope! There is newness!
Keepin' it Real,
Pastor Kevin <><
www.reallifect.com
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