Did you know your body replaces cells every 7 years? Or so the saying goes. Whether or not it's true, I think the implications of the matter are refreshing to think about. I am literally not the same person as when I was born. Not the same as this joker at least..
What does this point to? That there are seasons. There are cycles. There are ebbs and flows in our lives. There is, as Ecclesiastes 3 points out, a time for everything. I don't think it's a difficult thing to understand or even see, as we're not aloof from these cycles in our lives personally but also in the world around us. The danger for me is to take the passive route, to know these truths that are a part of my life and to just let them be. For better or worse, things will eventually come back around.
But I'm missing the better part of it. In the last two months, there are desires in my heart of changes I long to see come pass or visions I want to see come to fruition. In those past two months I was asking, "Why will you not make these happen?" And God, in only the gracious way He can, kept instilling the word 'create' in my heart over the past couple of weeks. Create, begin, initiate, start, invite. Surely I knew this, but I constantly need to be reminded time and time again because of my short sightedness. I am the object of God's furious love, AND I am the instrument of God's furious love for others. Because of the Spirit inside of me, I have the power to speak life into other people, or death. Too long have I sat in my seat of passivity while the Lord continually urges my heart to follow in His likeness as Creator – to begin conversations of substance, to allow the Spirit to work, to invite people to see the goodness of Jesus. I want to see change? That's me! That's you! By the Spirit, through Jesus, to be the change for people to experience the inexpressible love and joy of the Father!
There are seasons and we are called to create. But they're not diametrically opposed. So let us create the seasons, the cycles, the atmospheres that allow us to see the Son more clearly. In order to be change, you have to change. Give way for the cycle of change, just as your body changes and replenishes cells. Refresh your love of the Lord. Let the Father speak beauty back into your life. Let go of all the preconceived notions that you have of how God should be, what the church should look like, why you do things the way you do. Let God whisper His truths into your heart again, as pure and as raw as you can manage, and allow yourself to be transformed first by the Spirit then by a church or a community or a culture.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come! All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliations; that is, in Christ god was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – II Corinthians 5:17-21
Heavenly Father, thank You for not allowing us to wallow in our own attempts and strength. You've given us vision, and You've given us the avenue for that vision. Teach us to create. Psalm 51 is our prayer. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the JOY of Your salvation and uphold us with a willing spirit. Amen.
