My Whole Life

Romans 6:4   We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

 

I was watching a movie last night, at the end one character looked to the other, and in an attempt to apologize started to make the statement,  “my whole life..” the other character  stopped them, and said “not all of it”. That statement really resonated with me. How often do we do that? My whole life I have never had anything, my whole life I have just scraped by, my whole life people have treated me poorly, my whole life has been wasted. To all of those statements all I can think is…..well, not all of it.  We are given a new start, a chance to change what we are, where we are, and literally who we are up to that point. You see we cannot make the statement for my whole life, to do so is to condemn a part of our life that we have not lived yet. A whole is one, a full portion, start to finish, all of it. When we say  “my whole life”, we enslave ourselves to habits, viewpoints, and lies that have been whispered to us up to this point. To say “my whole life” is to say that this is my lot in life, and I have no chance, no hope, no path for a change. That is not the case at all! We have only lived up to this point. Today, right now, this moment, this breath. You choose what happens next. Up to this point you have been lost? DO you choose to stay lost, or will you start to search for a path. Up to this point you have been struggling, do you choose to continue on alone? Up to this point you have felt worthless, will you continue that self-depreciation, or will you take your place among your new family?

 

We have a new life, you have new life, we cannot make the statement “for my whole life” because our life has just started, we are just now getting to the good stuff. TO accept the “my whole life” mentality is to relegate yourself to the sidelines and watch others run the race. We are new creatures in Christ. We have a new family, we have a new path, we have a new goal. Christ conquered death so that we all might have eternal life. When you start talking about your whole life, you are talking about A LOT of life! We can only live up until this point. Then we have a choice to make. I believe it is one of the reasons we do not use that phrase that often. Until now means that a change is coming, until now means that we take responsibility for our past, and we are going to make a change. Until now starts the statement that will change your life forever. I thought I was worthless, until now. I thought I was unloved, until now. I thought I could not be forgiven, until now. I thought I could not succeed, until now. God did not send His Son to live and die amongst us, so that we could commit our lives to our past. That is what we do when we profess “for my whole life”

 

Christ is at work right now in your life. I know many do not believe that, but it is the truth none the less. Christ is ready to make a change in your life, He is ready to start healing, HE is ready to start forgiving, He is ready to shower you with love. It comes down to have you already lived your “whole life”, or has it just been “until now”? Every day we make that choice, we can do more for Christ, we can be more for Christ, we can live more for Christ. We make the choice are we stuck with what we have done “our whole life” or has it just been “until now”?  If we have 1 hour or 100 years left, it has not been our whole life, do not make the mistake of living as if it has. You will miss out on so many blessings, so much faith, so much love, to the point of which you have never seen…….until now.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

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The Ridge Fellowship

 

Psalm22