When we’re young, most of us really don’t give death a great deal of consideration. It’s just something that happens to others, and for us it will happen somewhere way out there in the future. But as we get older our perspective changes, sometimes slowly and sometimes rapidly. As I look in the mirror these days I am beginning to see some changes that, well that are not changes I really want to embrace. And if I focus on all the parts of me that aren’t functioning like they used to it can get a little depressing. And so, that’s why the Lord had a little talk with me this morning, and He suggested that perhaps I should stop embracing death.
Now before you think that my goal is to get you depressed this morning… hang on a bit longer.
We, as the bride of Christ, have been given something that the world does not have. The world of the unbeliever looks in the mirror in the morning and sees the aging lines, feels the pain, and tries to find ways to hide from the reality of it all. We, on the other hand, need to embrace what is happening in our earthly bodies because while they are deteriorating, there is new life on the inside that is growing. And that is the life we are to be focusing on.
Yes, we have to deal with the physical, the natural side, but we can’t allow it to become our primary focus. God has given us His Word and His Spirit; He has given us Himself. He has breathed Himself into our spirit and created us as new creatures in Him. Inside this earthly tent, this tabernacle that He has given us to live in during our walk through this life, we have new life. And with that new life comes a challenge and with that challenge a choice.
If we focus all of our attention on the deterioration of our earthly tent, and constantly look to its repair, we are missing out on an incredible opportunity to nurture the new life we have been given. The new life that wants to grow and mature and become all it was created (and given to us) to be. Here’s what He told me.
As His bride we are to set our hearts and our minds on His Word and His Spirit and allow them to grow and mature the new life in us. If we focus on the aging of our body and all that that involves, we are depriving ourselves (and those around us) of the vitality of our regenerated spirit; the glory of God within us. We have the opportunity, each and every day, to choose life over death (Dt 30:19); to choose whom we will follow (Josh 24:15). And in choosing life, in choosing to follow the Lord, we have His very life within us to teach us how to follow Him.
How often the church talks about the power and strength of the Spirit of God that lives within a believer. But, while that’s true, it misses the point. We shouldn’t just be focused on the Holy Spirit as our “helper” and our “comforter,” we should be focused on the fact that it is God Himself who lives within us (John 14:23). It is God who wants to reveal to us how to embrace the new life He has given us, to live it now and enjoy all that it has for us. This is our new beginning and not our ending, so why shouldn’t we spend our days focused on growing in our new man, rather than in allowing the aging of our bodies keep our focus on the “old man?”
We have been given new life… let’s embrace it. Let’s delve into the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal our new nature to us and all that it represents. Let’s focus on getting to know (to understand) the One who has not only given us new life, but is the very One living within us that is just waiting to reveal Himself to us and draw us ever closer to Him as He prepares us for an eternity of “new life” in Him.
Yes, getting old and dealing with all that goes along with it is hard on all of us. But, if we will truly release the old to Him and lift our focus off of what is getting older and put it on what is getting newer, the passing of earthly time will truly take on a rich new meaning. Every day is an opportunity to draw closer to our bridegroom and allow Him to reveal a little more Himself to us. And the more we see and understand who He really is, the closer to Him we will want to be. The more we embrace our life in Christ the less we will embrace the life we lead here on earth. That’s an exchange that I can embrace.
So, why don’t we begin to embrace Resting In His Peace right now!