Blog

Observation

We often hear the “new life” as a demand of God upon us. We think we need to be this new life in order to be acceptable to him. That can’t be more wrong. This new life is gifted to all who can recognise the freedom, the power and the image forming that is available to all in the resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus walked out of the tomb so did a new way of being human in him. This is the true you. This new self is your true self, the real you. God does not make demands upon me to be someone I’m not and then if I can do that he may look upon me with pleasure. God wants me to be me, this is his plan all along, the made in his image, divine-human me. Nothing impacts this, nationality, ethnicity, economics, it is all him and my finding myself, believing myself, living myself, from him.
You see in order for “every activity of your lives and every word that comes from your lips to be drenched with the beauty of our Lord Jesus,” you need to be present to his presence. It’s not read about him then imitate. It’s be with him and reflect. The difference here is where the power of new life lies. This is not disciplined obedience to rules, it’s a pleasurable experience that is so powerful that it shapes me, so I reflect on what I have encountered because its beauty has transformed me. God chose us for this holiness. This separateness from our “old Adam-self with its masquerade and disguise,” into our true self in him, is what holiness is.
This is supernatural and mystical, it is personal and intimate, and it is progressively a lifetime journey. We are being “continually renewed into the likeness of the One who created you,” as we continual encounter his presence. The full revelation comes at the new beginning of the new eternal life, up to then it’s bringing that life to earth, and shaping earth based in this future now. The key to this journey is experiencing and encountering a progressive revelation that – “You are always and dearly loved by God!” This is who God is, love, so the whole journey is one of being loved. This love is not like world love, this love doesn’t wait to be aroused, or wait for you to be loveable, it is expressing itself towards us always, the only question it asks is, “will you be loved, will you receive me?” This has been heaven’s question all along.

Application

Living loved is the invitation and the transformation place that forms me into me. This is why love is so attacked. If you can’t get loved then you can’t be you, for you is someone who is loved and then from the fullness of love becomes love. I will live in this love. I will not work hard at being made new, I will be loved well and then reflect. I will come often to love.
Thank you that you make love the transformation pathway to becoming me. It’s not rules and works, but beauty and passion. I love the transforming effect of your love on me. I love the reflection through my life. This is an amazing way to live.

Response

Meditate – You are always and dearly loved by God!
Consider:
How do you understand God’s transformation working in your life? Is it from hard works of obedience or the joy of being loved?
How do you respond to – “For you have acquired new creation life which is continually being renewed into the likeness of the One who created you?” How do you feel when you are invited to understand that the real you is Christlike?