I love the spring of the year. It’s like the world is waking up from a long winter’s nap, and in some ways it is. Those winter days can sometimes be cold and dark, and everything kind of seems gray and dull. However, with springtime, we often get to feel that pleasant warmth provided by the sun, and we get to see those beautiful, bold colors provided by the blooming flowers, the trees and the rest of God’s beautiful creation. In the springtime, the world wakes up, and new life appears all around us. This reminds me of the new life that we can have in Christ Jesus.
How many times have you heard people talking about searching for purpose or meaning in life? How many times have you heard somebody say they wished they could start over as they thought about all the things they did in their lives? People struggle with things like that, and if we will only look to God, we can find the answers.
According to Ecclesiastes 12:13, our purpose here is to “fear God and keep His commandments.” This is to be mankind’s all. Yet, mankind has not always chosen to serve God. Since the first man and the first woman, people have sinned. In fact, we “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We sin when we are “lured and enticed” by our own desires (James 1:14). We have made those choices, and because of our sins, the “wages” or what is deserved because of our sins is death (Romans 6:23). However, thanks be to God because He has offered us the way to have new life. We see this gift in Romans 6:23 in that the “gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is all in Jesus. How, though, do we get into Jesus? In Acts 2:38 Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” We see in other supporting texts that we are baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27). In Romans 6:3-4, we see that when we are baptized, we are baptized into His death. We are buried with Him in baptism, and we are to rise to walk in newness of life. In order for any of us to have that new life, we have to turn to God, follow His commands, have our sins washed away and walk daily in the new life for Him. In Christ, we have salvation, we have the church and we have every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). Let us all seek to have that new life in Jesus Christ and live it out every day.
