“And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you” (Eph. 4:24, MSG).
I want to pick up where my thoughts left off on Day 6, “God is in Control,” which centered around the idea that God, by His Spirit, is personally and actively involved in the ins and outs of our daily lives. He is not remote, indifferent, or an impersonal “ruler of the universe.” God is involved in every aspect of our lives; nothing is too insignificant, off-limits, or exempt from His redemptive purposes.
I love the scripture verse for the day. It is such a beautifully descriptive composite of our life with God, and that richly plays out our story of salvation.
“Take on an entirely new way of life…”
This phrase offers us a different way of living than we have been living.
We can often think of salvation as a moment in the past. “Jesus saved me when I was sixteen years old.” We sing songs of being ransomed and freed from sin and a glorious future awaits us. (Which is true!) However, when we cloak our salvation simply in terms of a past event or a glorious future, our salvation gets cut off from the present, ongoing work of our salvation and leaves most of our lives untouched. If left alone to manage on our own forces our salvation into self-sufficiency and we start focusing on our “work.” We assume the weight and responsibility of the Christian life lies squarely in our ability to achieve it.
When we fail to take seriously that Jesus is actively, personally, and transformatively present, the best we can do is try to live by his principles and our spiritual life becomes a self-help project. We will focus on perfecting beliefs, mastering techniques, or finding a sure-fire formula for “harnessing” the spiritual life. We will rely on increasing willpower, determination, and devotion to keep up our end of the bargain.
The Apostle Paul was adamant that our salvation was a new way of living: God acting in our lives to accomplish what we cannot accomplish on our own. “Entering into this fulness is not something you figure out or achieve” (Col. 2:11). It’s a lifetime of growing participation in God‘s saving ways with us.
Our salvation is an invitation to a new way, a certain kind of life; a life that centers responsively on Jesus Christ.
At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, I posted, “Lent becomes not an obligation but an opportunity to start again. Just like spring, Lent is also the act of beginning our spiritual life all over again refreshed, reoriented, and restored and where beauty can be found.” This is where the next 3 days will take us: an opportunity to, perhaps, start again.
Tomorrow, we continue looking at Eph. 2:24 and another facet of the God-fashioned life: “The Christian life isn’t about piling on more rules and regulations, it is about responding to the presence of Christ in us.”
The Apostle Paul was adamant that our salvation was a new way of living: God acting in our lives to accomplish what we cannot accomplish on our own. “Entering into this fulness is not something you figure out or achieve” (Col. 2:11). It’s a lifetime of growing participation in God‘s saving ways with us.
Our salvation is an invitation to a new way, a certain kind of life; a life that centers responsively on Jesus Christ.
At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, I posted, “Lent becomes not an obligation but an opportunity to start again. Just like spring, Lent is also the act of beginning our spiritual life all over again refreshed, reoriented, and restored and where beauty can be found.” This is where the next 3 days will take us: an opportunity to, perhaps, start again.
Tomorrow, we continue looking at Eph. 2:24 and another facet of the God-fashioned life: “The Christian life isn’t about piling on more rules and regulations, it is about responding to the presence of Christ in us.”
Reflection Questions:
What does this bring up in your life?
What would it look like for you to live into this “entirely new way of life?”
Gail Johnsen 