Death and Life
The smoke has been heavy around Tishomingo as they are having controlled burns at the refuge. Every so often they do this in order to clear way all the undergrowth, and to ensure that in case of an actual fire it does not spread to quickly. It’s surreal to drive through here and see it all burned away. But what’s even more amazing is to know that in just a matter of weeks and months the green will start to show and new life will be all over this forest.
It’s the circle of life, as the old song says. The old passes in order to make way for the new. The controlled burns speed up the process and helps the safety and new growth of the refuge and those of us around it. They know that even when burned the new life will come. It’s God’s design that new life comes after even the most devastating fires. God regularly brings life after death, and not just in nature.
It happens everyday in the lives of Christians. God is the one who brings life from death, only this time it’s not trees and bushes that will someday be fuel for another fire. In the lives of Christians God brings eternal life, making us new creations. We are not just dead, we are beyond all hope without Christ. But through the cross Christ gives us new life, bringing us out of eternal darkness into the eternal light.
This happens at the movement of salvation when Christians are justified and made right before God. But it also happens everyday through our sanctification, when we die to ourselves and take up our cross to follow him. Christ brings new life from every sacrifice we make, every time we say no to our flesh and yes to the cross the fruit of the spirit grows in our lives. Every time we set fire to our old habits, we can know Christ will bring new life.
I pray that you have given your life to Christ and experienced that new life of salvation. But I also pray that you continue to put the old ways of your life to death, and that you continue to find new life in Christ every day. The life of a Christian looks like this landscape in a sense. Death has come, but we know that new life is coming. Praise God for his goodness to us.