2 Corinthians 5:6-7 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight.
As
followers and believers in Christ Jesus, we can start over again; we receive a
fresh new start from God thru Christ Jesus and his sacrifice on the Cross of
Calvary. God not only forgives us, absolves us, restores us, and saves us, but
He also has made us into a new person. The old person is dead; in the symbolism
of Baptism, we are buried in Baptism and raised to walk in a newness of life.
The old person is already dead; that happens when we accept Christ Jesus as our
Lord and Savior. Baptism symbolizes the old person buried because they are
already dead and raised from the water of Baptism to walk in a newness of life.
From that day forward, every day, we rededicate our lives and hearts to be of
service to Him. Consequently, every day we rededicate ourselves to Him is a new
day in Christ. Every day we come to him, we rededicate ourselves to serve him,
and every new year we give him, we get a fresh new start and a whole new world.
As
children of God and followers of Christ, we can face any situation that comes
our way with the confidence that Jesus is always there and will never leave or
forsake us. Our bodies will go into the grave when we breathe our last breath;
for those that have surrendered their livers to Christ, our spirit instantly
goes into the presence of God. Our loved ones will bury our mortal bodies, but
as believers in Christ Jesus, we are no longer in that dead body. Our bodies
are only temporary housing for our soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
As
followers of Jesus, we should not attempt to live according to our emotions or
feelings. It matters not where our feelings are; we should squarely place our
faith in Christ Jesus's capable hands. Faith puts its trust in God with no
thought of feelings or emotions. As children of God, we know that we have
eternal life and that good night on this side is a good morning to Jesus on the
other side. Faith takes hold of the promises of God and considers them as true;
the only method by which we can measure eternal matters is faith. However,
faith is a general term; it matters where we place our faith; any place we
commit our faith to, other than God, through Christ will result in a dead
response.
A Christian brother who was experiencing much
tribulation and one day took a stroll around his neighborhood. A new church was
under construction, and this man stopped and watched the builder's hard work on
this new house of God. A stone mason was working on a huge block, but he needed
to find where the mason would place the block on the new building. He watched
as the block came to life as the mason shaped and formed it into a specific
pattern. He inquired where the new statue was going, and the mason said on the
top of the church building. The Stone Mason said he was shaping it down here to
fit up at the top of the building. The man going through these tribulations
quickly saw that God had answered His prayers. God's message was that He was
preparing him down here to fit in when he got to heaven.
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