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A Morning View By the Wood Stove

Last night I picked up my car from an auto body shop. I would trust the owner of the shop with my life, so I decided to take my 2015 Accord with 177,000 miles on it to be given a facelift. There were places on the hood where general highway wear was creating small spots of rust. There were minor dents and scratches and in general, the car just needed some love and care with detailing. 

When I saw it and got in to drive it, I felt like I was in a new car. It was amazing to see the transformation from a vehicle I could get around in to a vehicle I was proud to be seen in. I told myself no more food in this car! I am gong to park where it will avoid dings and scratches. I must be selective in what I put in the car and no more throwing trash onto the floor for later! 

I know when you really met Jesus for the first time your life was transformed. You were a brand new automobile being driven off the lot. Since then there has been a lot of road wear. There are small dings, chips and scratches in your spirit. There is evidence of larger dents because of bigger issues you have faced. Minor things like dust, dirty windows and clutter build up in your life and honestly you just live with it because after all, you can still function and get around. 

As a new creation of Jesus Christ are not intended to just get around and survive, you are created to flourish and live. God does not desire for us to hold onto the scratches, bumps and rust spots. We need to go to God and be refurbished and refreshed. There is no reason to settle to just survive until something happens, we can be refreshed, refurbished with a spiritual facelift everyday. All we need is some love and care with the detailing of God to be made fresh and new! You will not just survive, you can thrive with a spiritlift from God! 

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:16-21


Peace,

PB

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