I AM THE GOD OF NEW BEGINNINGS
by Ron Massman
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our
iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was
upon Him, and by His
stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone
astray; we have
turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD
has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5, 6
When we consider what our savior did for us that
day long ago an
overwhelming sense of gratitude and “rightness”
should flood our very
being. By dying for us Christ Jesus put to death
the penalty of not
meeting the strict requirements of God’s law. Out
of Love He did not
stop there! What should be our wounds, our
bruises, and our guilty
sentence were placed on Him not for us to
repossess at any time. To
reclaim our previous state of shameful conduct
would not only be a
violation of God’s new covenant promise, but by
doing so we would also
deny to ourselves the new nature God has given to
those who are His in
Christ Jesus…and put Him (Jesus) to an open shame.
(Hebrews 6:4-6)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; (old) things
have passed away; behold, all things have become
(new). 2 Corinthians
5:17 (Italics mine)
Accompanying God’s new created order a fresh new
awareness rises up
within our very being, bringing with it the
assurance of complete
wholeness and liberty. In our spirit “all things
have become new”. It
is now up to us to put off the “old things” of
past tendencies and
wrong thinking as we agree with our new man to be
progressively…transformed by the renewing of our
minds. Indeed since
we serve a living God let us offer up ourselves
as…living sacrifices
holy and acceptable unto Him. (Romans 12:1, 2)
How is this Possible?
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,
cleanse your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:14
And Again!
For by one offering He has perfected forever those
who are being
sanctified. Hebrews 10:14
Resurrection Power!
How can we as believers in the Lord Jesus
successfully serve in this
new and living way with consciences seared by the
threat of “spiritual
infirmities” of present and past generations? The
very pure and
perfect properties of the “new wine” of freedom in
Christ should serve
to burst that “old wineskin” of doubt and unbelief
and spill over into
our lives the fresh and untainted message of
Truth. What is this
Truth? The “new wineskin” of our testimony has the
capacity to contain
all that’s needed to cleanse and perfect our lives
in the direction of
holiness. The blood of Christ shed “once for all”
effectively frees
our lives to serve Him the only way we can: In
Spirit and in Truth.
How can we as the redeemed of Christ be burdened
with “sin
consciousness” of the past when Jesus (in love)
suffered, bled and
died for that very thing onto which we desperately
hold--To our
eventual regret? Instead let us hold tight to that
lifeline of the
pure, unbroken promise of (Acts17:28) He in whom
we live and move and
have our being--our Jesus!
Let us who are His cast out all fear and doubt as
we acknowledge the
sufficiency of Jesus’ blood in all areas of our
lives. He is indeed
the God of new beginnings for now and forever. AMEN!
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