Things New and Old

The verses I've memorized this week are as follows:

"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 reconciliation; 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." (2 Corinthains 5:17-19 ESV)

Our past is hard to forget, and it tends to steal our joy and strength from the present, and rob us of hope for what is to come. The last couple of weeks have been a little bumpy as Cherie and I have struggled to put the past behind us, because it is so easy to see the the present through the dark lense the of our past. And yet God has poured much grace into our lives these months, and so we have much to be thankful for. He has had to remind us of His work, to assure us of its reality, and see that we can trust Him to continue His work of grace in our lives.

These verses have been an encouragement to me in this regard. "The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!" That's right, my old sin-saturated ways are gone, even though there is still a remnant of the corruption that they caused. And the new way of life has come -- I am enjoying being faithful to my wife, and have a passion for righteousness and a hatred of sin -- and these emotions are growing. God is so good! And the next part of this portion reminds me of that -- "All this is from God... through Christ!" What mercy and grace He has shown me. God's purpose is to reconcile the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and then entrusting us with a ministry of reconciliation. Wow! He is such a gracious God!

And I can see how He is working out reconciliation in Cherie and I individually with Himself, and with each other through this season of life. It is a ministry of His grace to us and through us, and it is all of Him. He has not only reconciled us, but in doing so, He has taken away the old and brought us new life in Christ. New desires, new thought patterns, new perspectives, new humility, new grace, new appreciation, new worship, new communication, new cares and concerns for others, and probably a whole lot more that I am forgetting!

Thank You, Lord, for your ministry of reconciliation in our lives!

And I must close with this verse that came to mind when pondering, "All this is from God" from the above verses... "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36 NKJV)