If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. ~ I Peter 1:17-23
From a practical level, just what does it mean to be born anew?
We say all kinds of things about resurrection in church, and all kinds of things about being born anew...
But what does that mean for your life now? For today?
And even for tomorrow?
Well, what with what little I know, I can say that God is in the business of transforming lives.
That God is in the business of new.
That God isn't' one to let things stagnate.
I'd say that you have only to look around - it's Spring after all - and see the new that's happening all around. Trees were "dead" and now are blossoming with new life.
They are being born anew.
The seedling from today came from a tree of yesterday. The life of that tree is imperishable.
Plants and animals - think butterflies - show signs of God's love of new life all the time.
So while we can't know for sure what our new life will look like, we can know with certainty, that for God, that new life will be beautiful.
You have called me to new life, O, Lord. Help it to spring forth! Amen
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