“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” 1 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
Jesus dying on the cross took the penatly of our sins, which is amazing in itself. But coupled with his resurrection, whereby we could be raised to life from our sin-dead lives, is incredible!
Christians do a good job of remembering the great sacrifice of the Cross by displaying it in their homes and in their churches and some wearing it on a necklace or earrings or even a tattoo. But what about the resurrection? As I struggle to find an image to represent that, the Lord hit me with another image. The image was me and us. We are the living representation of His resurrection! We don’t need a symbol to hang on our walls to go alongside the cross. We don’t need jewelry or a tattoo. We have been “tattooed” by the Holy Spirit–given new birth into a “living hope.” We have been brought from death to life!
And even though that is our present reality, it can still be easy to lose our identity. We can still choose to live in our old self. I once heard an illustration of a little worm, who from birth, spent it’s days moving around in the dirt. Then one day the worm eventually began to change until it transformed into a full-fledged butterfly. The problem was it was so used the dirt that it just stayed there. Even though it had been given wings to fly, it continued to wallow around in the dirt.
You have been given new life, born into a living hope. You have been given “wings” to be raised to new life and don’t need to wallow around in the dirt of your old self. You are a living representation of His resurrection. You don’t need to wait until heaven to begin to experience the benefits of the Kingdom. The “future starts now!”
Are you still living in the dirt of your old self? Are you weighed down by the guilt of your sin or being consumed with anxiety that you’ll never change? You have been changed, given new life, and you are no longer slaves to sin.
Spend some time asking the Lord where you are still wallowing around in the dirt of your old self. Confess your sin and be raised to new life!
Two Minutes with God 