Spring to Life

Everywhere I look I see signs of new life. The cold and dormant world of winter has given way to the welcoming warmth of spring. Dull and barren landscapes are now bursting with color, beauty, and life.

Newness of life, this is what Christ came to offer. This new life carries the promise of peace and of hope, of purpose and of belonging. Peace, because our enmity with God has been washed away and the prince of peace had taken residence in our hearts. Hope, because we know that no matter what may befall us in this present time, we have been assured the final victory. Purpose, because we have been given a mission to accomplish and we have been equipped to prevail. Belonging, because we have been made the children of God and members of the body of Christ.

This new life is offered to us free of charge, and yet we have been exhorted to count the cost. Why? Because humility and submission are at the heart of what it means to be Christian. When we submit ourselves to the lordship of Christ we are giving up our right to be the masters of our own lives. Our lives our no longer about satisfying our longings and our desires, exalting our own name, or building our own kingdom. As followers of Christ we give up our lives for the sake of the gospel. There is beauty in this though, for when we do this we truly find the life that God intended for us. “Whoever would save his life will lose it,” our Lord said, “but whoever loses their life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Here we find the great paradox of Christianity: dying so that we might live. We die to ourselves, to our selfish ambitions, to our pride, to our sin, and we find new life in Christ.