“Therefore we have been buried with baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life.” (Romans 6:4 NASB)
This morning’s meditation was inspired by an illustration used by Rev. M. King, Jr., my oldest son, when he was preaching in my stead this past Sunday. Okay, there is not really a “Jr.” on the end of his name, but it just sounds good. His name is Marcus, and my name is Mark. He prefers the latter, while I wish that the former was my first name. I’m off subject, but while it is 9:15 a.m. on the west coast, it is 12:15 a.m. in my city. Shouldn’t I be in bed? Well when He calls, I have to answer. So here I am, being used by the Lord. Let me get back on subject. Fulfilling his calling to preach the word, Rev. King, “Jr.” preached from the Book of Acts on the activity of the early church, giving us a Biblical basis, a blueprint if you will, gleaning from the word for all who had ears to hear, how we needed to re-think and re-start how we do church in the post-pandemic era. He listed many things: fellowship, encouraging one another in the assembly of the saints, breaking bread, praising God, sharing with others, and more. He emphasized how important it was to be consistent in our devotion to the hearing of the preached word, and doing things in the church body, not just as something to check off our list of things to do, but to do such things with a sincere heart and a desire to bring others to Christ. With a variety of analogies, he explained how we could gain favor with God. Yes, he went there! He went to how we greet people, and had us all wondering if our behavior in the local church, including such little things as our facial expressions and tone of our voice was being received or perceived. His customer service illustrations were hilarious, but they had a definite point aimed at our perfect progress in the realm of holiness. I am sure listeners got it!
The analogies and illustrations in Reverend King’s sermon were all appropriate and they accurately zeroed in on things the congregation could identify with or better yet, relate to as they revealed our personal and corporate areas of “Needs Improvement.” However the one illustration that resonated with me had to do with newness. The preacher pointed out how we behave differently when things are new. One specific example was how we are with new cars; keeping them spotless and shiny for a few weeks. But as time goes on the newness mentality fades away. Cars are not the only things that we start out hot and end up lukewarm or even cold as the newness wears off. Think about it! Look at how you were when it was a new relationship, a new marriage, a new pair of shoes, a new coat that was always hung up perfectly straight, until the newness wore off. Look at how we were when we got a new job, a new diet plan, or even how excited we were when a new year of school started. In that latter case, we started out with multiple notebooks, sharpened pencils, and a new focus on doing better then the prior year. That was at the beginning. Need I say more? You know what happened in the case of many “other people,” don’t you? Acknowledge the truth: The newness mentality is not retained in many of the examples above.
As individual Christians and in our local churches, we need to regain that newness feeling. We need to have the same zeal, passion, and enthusiasm that characterized the early days of our salvation experience, and the immediate time after we were raised up out of the baptismal waters, admonished to walk in the newness of life. Today is a new day! You have never seen it before! Didn’t I say, “It’s new!” And this new day needs to be met with you duplicating the newness that you felt when you first gave your life to Jesus; when your soul was set afire to serve. And guess what? Tomorrow will be another new day and you need to wake up with the same newness mentality when it comes to being a follower of Christ, one of His disciples. Guess what! Every day that you are blessed to see will be a new day and you should replicate that newness mentality! Somebody out there in the world is in need to seeing what a wonderful new change has come over you since you gave Jesus your life! Well, enjoy your Tuesday morning! Clothe yourself in newness! It will be easy to do if you just think of God’s goodness to you, His mercies that are new every day, and then make Christ’s teachings be seen in your living, seen in your speaking, seen in your explaining, seen in your spreading the word, seen in your choosing, seen in your prioritizing, seen in your stewardship, seen in your walking by faith, and of course seen in your loving one another! By the way, that new testimony that you have from what God did for you yesterday, minor, or major in your eyes, magnify the Lord and tell somebody the great things that the Lord did for you! Good night or good morning! Smile! Be blessed
“Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste…” (Revelation 2:5 The Message Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King