God of New Life
Passage to be read: John 11: 38-44
Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
(John 11: ...38 - 44)
Wish you a Happy New Year 2019! I am happy to meet you through this devotion in this new year. May God bless you and lead you. It is a new beginning in our calendars and that's a big change indeed. Sometimes we realize, it is only the calendar that has changed but everything remains the same; the same challenges, the same people, the same workplace, the same congregation and the same thoughts. But, my dear friend, the real new year is not outside of you, but within you. Whenever you believe that you are having a new beginning in your decisions and thoughts, and you refresh yourself with new ideas and aims in new paths, that is the real new year. So join with me in faith this week, to meditate on how a new life is possible with God.
Whenever I think of 'new life' I remember three important people in the Bible. And these people were surrounded by their own chains and burdens, impossibilities and extreme damnation, but God gave them a new beginning. It was God's extended grace and unconditional love which were the reasons for this new beginning God granted them. And these people who found God's favour in their lives are Ruth, Lazarus and Paul.
Ruth, the Moabite young widow. She was fallen. All her dreams and imaginations were thrashed when her young husband Mahlon, son of Naomi, died. As a young woman, she sustained herself with her mother-in-law even when she was asked to go and have her own new beginning. She left her homeland and came with her mother-in-law Naomi who returned to Bethlehem from the land of Moab after a great loss. For Naomi, who came to Moab to escape from a famine with her husband and two sons, this was a painful return. How precious she would have felt to be a woman cherished by three men in the family. But now she returns empty and her daughter-in-law Ruth, hopeless of everything remains with Naomi. Decides to continue her life in widowhood together with her mother-in-law. But God had a new beginning for Ruth. I encourage you to read this amazing story of a God-given new life that is written in the Book of Ruth in the Bible. See how amazing God's plans are. In the midst of all impossibilities and negatives, Ruth was blessed by God with a new beginning. She found favour in the eyes of the Lord and God blessed her with a man named Boaz. The Bible says that Boaz was "a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek." God blessed Ruth with a new life that changed everything around her and made all the human impossibilities a possibility. Through her new beginning, everyone around her were blessed with joy and happiness. That's one story of a new beginning that amazes me.
Lazarus, a good friend of Jesus and the only brother for Mary and Martha. Jesus comes to know that his good friend was sick. But comes searching for the moment that changed everything in the life of Lazarus and even transformed the way we measure the human limits and the broad eternity of God. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. And, Martha, the sister of Lazarus said “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Look at that expression of faith. When her sister Mary also expressed the same when she met Jesus. Deeply moved, Jesus went with them to the tomb and he said “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. And that's amazing! Interestingly, just few minutes back Martha said, “But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” My dear friends, this was the worst condition where Lazarus was. He has gone beyond the human limitations and his own sisters believed that his own body would have started decomposing. Yes. He had been to that extreme. Not on the ICU bed, not in palliative care unit, but in the tomb, decomposing. And even there the wonderful transformation through God's favour comes. God gave Lazarus a new beginning. And His life changed forever. And this new life was not something that human limits could measure, it was beyond our imagination.
Paul, when he was known as Saul, was one of the influential stumbling blocks to the establishments and growth of the early church. He went around with a gang that went searching for the followers of Christ and was the partner in all activities and agendas that stopped the love of Christ being shared and witnessed. But God met him in the most humanly-impossible way. And gave him a new beginning. Saul's conversion was one of the most influential new beginnings that once again shook the early church, but this time in a different way, something that was just the opposite of what he was doing before. A transformation from "Saul" to "Paul" was not just int he name but in his entire view of the world and in the way he experienced what Christ Jesus had done for him and the entire world. God gave Paul a new beginning in the midst of the most impossible circumstance of his life. And today we thank God for the life of Paul the Apostle for the way he carried and brought the love of Christ to the gentiles and beyond.
Our God is a God of New Beginnings. And we have seen that the new beginnings that God gives us are not only in the humanly-most possible circumstances, but in the darkest and impossible conditions. And today God is inviting you in this new year for that change. He is inviting you for that new beginning. Do not look at the conditions and circumstances around you; they may look the most negative. But God is ready to give you a new life, for He is a God of New Life.
I pray that all of us will surrender ourselves to God in faith, in spite of the conditions and circumstances around us, and will witness the wondrous beginning of a new life that God is giving us in this new year.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
Whenever I think of 'new life' I remember three important people in the Bible. And these people were surrounded by their own chains and burdens, impossibilities and extreme damnation, but God gave them a new beginning. It was God's extended grace and unconditional love which were the reasons for this new beginning God granted them. And these people who found God's favour in their lives are Ruth, Lazarus and Paul.
Ruth, the Moabite young widow. She was fallen. All her dreams and imaginations were thrashed when her young husband Mahlon, son of Naomi, died. As a young woman, she sustained herself with her mother-in-law even when she was asked to go and have her own new beginning. She left her homeland and came with her mother-in-law Naomi who returned to Bethlehem from the land of Moab after a great loss. For Naomi, who came to Moab to escape from a famine with her husband and two sons, this was a painful return. How precious she would have felt to be a woman cherished by three men in the family. But now she returns empty and her daughter-in-law Ruth, hopeless of everything remains with Naomi. Decides to continue her life in widowhood together with her mother-in-law. But God had a new beginning for Ruth. I encourage you to read this amazing story of a God-given new life that is written in the Book of Ruth in the Bible. See how amazing God's plans are. In the midst of all impossibilities and negatives, Ruth was blessed by God with a new beginning. She found favour in the eyes of the Lord and God blessed her with a man named Boaz. The Bible says that Boaz was "a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek." God blessed Ruth with a new life that changed everything around her and made all the human impossibilities a possibility. Through her new beginning, everyone around her were blessed with joy and happiness. That's one story of a new beginning that amazes me.
Lazarus, a good friend of Jesus and the only brother for Mary and Martha. Jesus comes to know that his good friend was sick. But comes searching for the moment that changed everything in the life of Lazarus and even transformed the way we measure the human limits and the broad eternity of God. On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. And, Martha, the sister of Lazarus said “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Look at that expression of faith. When her sister Mary also expressed the same when she met Jesus. Deeply moved, Jesus went with them to the tomb and he said “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. And that's amazing! Interestingly, just few minutes back Martha said, “But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” My dear friends, this was the worst condition where Lazarus was. He has gone beyond the human limitations and his own sisters believed that his own body would have started decomposing. Yes. He had been to that extreme. Not on the ICU bed, not in palliative care unit, but in the tomb, decomposing. And even there the wonderful transformation through God's favour comes. God gave Lazarus a new beginning. And His life changed forever. And this new life was not something that human limits could measure, it was beyond our imagination.
Paul, when he was known as Saul, was one of the influential stumbling blocks to the establishments and growth of the early church. He went around with a gang that went searching for the followers of Christ and was the partner in all activities and agendas that stopped the love of Christ being shared and witnessed. But God met him in the most humanly-impossible way. And gave him a new beginning. Saul's conversion was one of the most influential new beginnings that once again shook the early church, but this time in a different way, something that was just the opposite of what he was doing before. A transformation from "Saul" to "Paul" was not just int he name but in his entire view of the world and in the way he experienced what Christ Jesus had done for him and the entire world. God gave Paul a new beginning in the midst of the most impossible circumstance of his life. And today we thank God for the life of Paul the Apostle for the way he carried and brought the love of Christ to the gentiles and beyond.
Our God is a God of New Beginnings. And we have seen that the new beginnings that God gives us are not only in the humanly-most possible circumstances, but in the darkest and impossible conditions. And today God is inviting you in this new year for that change. He is inviting you for that new beginning. Do not look at the conditions and circumstances around you; they may look the most negative. But God is ready to give you a new life, for He is a God of New Life.
I pray that all of us will surrender ourselves to God in faith, in spite of the conditions and circumstances around us, and will witness the wondrous beginning of a new life that God is giving us in this new year.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
