Isaiah 43:18-19 AMPC
Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. [19] Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
We're building a new conservatory - one that is larger and has an improved outlook - so we can see the horizon.
But to build the new shiny one, the old tattered one has to be demolished.
It's a hard, messy business.
Right now we're in the worst of it - the old is partly demolished and the new has only the foundations and a few brick coarses.
It put me in mind of how God has to work in each of our lives as we give ourselves to Jesus.
First there comes the demolition of our old worldly self. Lots of things have to go. Things to which we have become very attached. It's a breaking and a shaking of our earthly values, ambitions and priorities.
At the moment there is a pile of the old framework at the top of the garden - it has to be taken away in a skip. If left there it will block the view of the garden and make it look like a rubbish dump.
What remnants of our old life are marring our view of Jesus and preventing the Holy Spirit's work of rebuild?
It's a great question....
2 Corinthians 5:17 AMPC
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!
May we let the Holy Spirit complete the demolition process, so that the new can be built and shine through.
Yes, it's a hard and messy business and takes a life time!
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