lenten 40: day 33 - recycle

image 33.

scripture.
¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
~2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!
~2 Corinthians 5:17 (The Message)

thoughts.
the word 'recycle' means to :pass through a series of changes or treatments." it's the process of regaining usable form. it also means "to recover or adapt to a new use; to bring back; to be made new again." it's something old being made new. kind of a cool concept, isn't it?

in some parts of the world, such as in England, they desperately need to recycle - as their landfills are overflowing. they are running out of room for their garbage.

some of us also desperately need to recycle. we need to recycle our old way of living - you know, those destructive patterns and chaotic life styles or choices? We need to recycle that way and be made new again.

sometimes we'd rather live in the past than embrace the newness of the future. it's always easier to just 'go back' because we often look at the past with rose-colored glasses. we think that the past was better - but Jesus offers us a new, better way. this is what the cross represents... death to sin, death to the past... and through His sacrifice and through our active repentance - we receive full life. true. full. life.

farmers often use crop rotation to keep their crops strong, healthy and productive. when farmers effectively rotate crops, there is a lesser chance that pests will destroy them. we have a choice - remain stagnant and let the pests of sin control us, or be recycled and made new again. if we embrace the newness of life and the freshness, we have less of a chance of letting those pests invade our being - where they can take hold of us and leading us down the path towards death. Jesus offers life.

life was the message he so often preached as he approached the Cross and His high calling. Life though death. Recycled life for you and me. made new again. usable again. all because of Jesus.