I AM RENEWED

Lately, my heart and mind have been centered on the idea of renewal. Of the way His mercies are new every morning. He tells me I am made new. I don’t know about you, but many times I roll out of bed in the morning, and I don’t feel like a new creation. (Of course I’m not exactly a morning person, so that might contribute ;))

I tend to rise as the old creation—yesterday’s annoyances, fears, worries, offenses, cares, mistakes, etc—all lingering in the not-so-distant background. Quiet perhaps, but present nonetheless. Subtle weights on my shoulder. Just waiting for the new day to affirm yesterdays struggles, building evidence that life is a drudgery–convincing me that the new day is another day just like the last one. 

This is the life the old me, the me from yesterday, tries to convince me is my reality.

But that is not accurate. That is not the reality of the life I have chosen. Though my physical body might be ever decaying, the spiritual side of me is renewed. New every morning. But do I take hold of the evidences God gives me that I am renewed and restored, or the whispers in the background that tell me I am tired, fed-up, and can’t take any more?

Throughout scripture we can see that He provides renewed strength, lifting us on eagles wings. We are told His mercies are new every morning. We aren’t left to limp along, surviving on old mercies from days gone by. There is daily bread—fresh and warm from the oven. 

Imagine waking up each morning to the comforting yeasty scent of fresh baked bread. It makes me want to move next door to a bread bakery just to remind myself that I don’t have to content myself with the stale crust of bread I so often try to gnaw on and survive. Why would I do that when he has promised me fresh, hot bread every day? How easily I forget His simple, straightforward promises.

I don’t think we have to go chasing down this thing that Jesus says He has already given. This refreshing, restorative gift He pours into us each day. I think we just have to accept the gift, embrace what he says is true. BE AWARE. Discipline ourselves to see the unseen spiritual world. To let our focus steady there. To see life through a spiritual lens rather than the physical lens that we so naturally lean toward. 

Our spirit selves are provided renewal. A free gift every day. But are we taking hold of it? 

I don’t pretend that it is easy. On those days when the alarm clock doesn’t go off. Or you wake to a sick child. Or an inbox full of complaints. Or a body that is failing you. Or those moments when the tragedies of life have tipped your world off its axis.

The days that don’t begin in crisis mode should be our training days, so that we can remember when life is at its most challenging. But so often, those are the days we forget. The ordinary days are when we let our awareness of our need for God’s daily infusion of love, grace, and mercy slip. Those ordinary days are the ones in which we neglect to open our Bibles and take a moment to acknowledge Him in prayer.

Let us become more aware. Not only are we offered renewal at the moment of salvation, but also each and every ordinary day. Do we see it? Do we taste its goodness or are we trying to swallow stale bread?

2 Corinthians 4:16-18(NASB)
16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.