Easter is a special time of year
for all. Not only Christian celebrates it, but in fact the whole
world comes to a standstill. Of course they do it for different
reasons; they enjoy an Easter egg hunt or two and love the break
they get from work. But for us as Christians it is a very special
time as it commemorates Jesus' death and resurrection.
This Easter reminded me of one
thing in particular again. It reminded me that Jesus came to give
us a new beginning. It was His whole purpose in coming, God the
Father wanted to start anew with each one of us. We are all
sinners, doomed to die. Not one of us is righteous enough to be
able to enter into God's presence on our own. We have been
separated from Him, because of our sins. He is holy, righteous and
true and cannot have sinful people in His presence. A curtain
separated us, it kept us apart, and it was not what God had in mind
when He created Adam and Eve. He wanted fellowship with them, He
wanted to walk with them, talk with them and share in their lives.
But alas it was not to be.
And now Jesus came. He took our
sinful natures and crucified it on the cross. He alienated us from
our sinful selves and in its place gave us a new beginning. We were
given the privilege of being born again. The moment we accept Jesus
in our lives a new person are born inside of us. There are so many
beautiful Scriptures about this, but I just want to share a few
with you today.
"You have died with Christ, and
He has set you free from the evil powers of this world." Colossians
2:20
"You have been raised to new
life with Christ." Colossians 3:1
"...you are a new person,
created in God's likeness - righteous, holy and true." Ephesians
4:24
"...those who become Christians
become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life
is gone. A new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17
We are new. Jesus died so that our
sinful natures can make way for the new. What wonderful news! We
are new and because we are, we can enter into the presence of God,
we can fellowship with Him, we can bring our requests to Him, and
we have the privilege of calling Him Father. None of the Old
Testament believers had this privilege, only the High Priest once a
year on the Day of Atonement. How honoured we are to have this
bestowed upon us. And not because we are wonderful, but because
Jesus suffered for our sakes.
Yet it is sad to notice that we
often take this honour for granted. A number of us don't make the
time to enter into His presence. We rush around frantically in this
life and are too tired at night to make a real effort to spend time
at His feet. I think we have become so used to this honour, that we
take it lightly sometimes. My wish for you all and myself included
is that we stand in awe again of Who He is. We need to be so
grateful that we can enter into His presence and spend time with
Him, that we make sure that we do. The wonder of the new creation
needs to pulsate within us all. Stand in wonder of the fantastic
plan of God. He created us anew so that we can be holy and
blameless before Him. He created us anew because He longs to spend
time with us, longs to hear our voice, longs to hold us in His
arms.
Get up on Friday morning and praise
His Name that you are a new creation. Praise Him for His favour and
for counting you worthy enough and make a renewed commitment to
spend quality time with Him. Nothing in the world is more important
than that. Enjoy the time with Him, it is priceless and life
changing.
Dearest Father, thank you so much
for sending Jesus to take our sins away and to make way for the new
creation within us all. Thank you so much for the gift of Your Holy
Spirit too. We are so grateful for all that You have done. We
praise Your Name and exalt You on high. We want to spend more time
with You and to make You the first priority in our lives. Please
help us in this regard and give us the strength to say 'no' to
activities that take Your place in our lives. We want to give You
the number one spot once again. We love You. Amen