A Change of Season
Colossians - Chapter 3
What a great week it has been as I have been able to look outside and see the change of season. Some of you may prefer one season over another but for me I like the changes that take place in between as we progress from one to the other.
Some people just hate to see winter approach and others hide indoors in air conditioned comfort almost all summer. We each seem to have our preferences.
The funny thing about the change of our seasons is that we can not stop it or reverse it. Once God puts nature into motion a great symphony erupts all around us. Every living creature is busy in preparation for the changes to come. From the smallest insect to the largest mammal every single living thing is suddenly aware that we are in for dramatic changes in how we go about our daily lives.
The same thing happens when we fully trust Jesus to change us from a lost sinner to a saved saint. Dramatic changes take place some of us are not prepared for what is involved.
I was busy most of this Friday getting my yard ready for the fall season. I had a lot to do and did not get it all done. I had the boat to clean out and equipment to store away. I had to clean out my back shed in order to make room to store the boat equipment. I had our back utility room to straighten out get the coats all organized and the summer chairs put away.
While I was doing all this sorting and cleaning and storage I discovered a lot of useless things that needed to be thrown in the garbage. I was shocked at how much junk I had been surrounded by. Funny that it was not a concern until the season began to change.
I filled several garbage bags and boxes and soon discovered we had a floor in the utility room that had been buried by all of what I thought were the necessary things for the summer season.
I realized that I hardly used half of the things I had gotten out for the summer season. It was like I was making sure things got migrated from one room to another even though they did nothing once they made the move from one place to the other. I realized that a lot of my efforts at moving things around really made no sense at all. I was just making work for myself that would have to be repeated once the season changed again.
I decided that once spring gets here I am going to have a big yard sale. I still have not finished my preparations for this seasonal change. I have my closets to go through and will need to put away my summer shirts and shorts and get out my winter sweaters and heavy socks. Once I finally make the change I will be ready for whatever the next season brings.
My question to you today is are you ready for the change of season that will soon be upon you?
Our lives in Christ are filled with all kinds of activity and change. Jesus living in us is changing us from season to season. Jesus is getting us ready for what we can not see. Jesus is the one who can help us put on our storm windows and insulate our hearts for the cold harsh reality that life sometimes is.
It is Jesus who helps us discover that the useless things we held onto from one season to another can be discarded once and for all. He shows us that we need not carry a sinful habit or attitude with us from one season to another. We need not carry an angry heart into our relationships but through Gods love we can clean up our old self and know the freedom that awaits us through forgiving one another.
We can set aside that box full of disappointment and broken dreams and unfulfilled desires and clean up our spiritual house. We can put on the new clothing of righteousness and salvation that Jesus asks us to change into.
Dear Christian the bible tells us plainly that:
Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
In every one of our lives we have gone through all kinds of seasons. Seasons of doubt, seasons of despair, seasons of anxiety, seasons of joy, seasons of hope, seasons of love. Life is full of the changing seasons but we sometimes allow ourselves to get buried by the junk we collect and carry it with us from one season into the next.
Is it time that you cleaned out your winter closet? Do you need to throw away things you have held onto but never used? When you look at who you are in Christ do you see yourself being changed or are you stuck holding on to the person you used to be?
The scriptures tell us plainly we are to put to death the old things that once lived within us. Have you put them to death or have you just wounded them here and there?
Do you find yourself thinking about heaven and its glories or is your attention adverted to earthly gain and pleasures?
We need to clothe ourselves in Jesus. We need to be dressed in a servants garment. We need to change our outfit and put on the new white clean clothes that Jesus wants to see us wearing.
How are you dressed today? On the outside you all look pretty good but on the inside are you getting ready for a change of season? You see this world is not our own even though we sometimes think of it that way. We live in it we use it and we think we have some title over it. The reality is that it all belongs to God our Father and we are just paying rent. God is the one who will collect the first and the last months rent. What will you pay Him with?
We occupy our lives with the things we think are best for us. We pursue our ideal job, our ideal partner without so much of consulting God about the really big decisions of our lives. Then the seasons of our life change and we are caught unprepared for the changes that overcome us. It need not be that way.
Christian are you given over to Jesus? Have you fully trusted Him with your life, with your soul? Is your nature being changed as you move through the seasons of life? Have you fully clothed yourself with Christ or are you only partially dressed up as a Christian?
We must love each other the same way Jesus loved us and that means we must be willing to forgive each other even if it kills us. Jesus died to forgive you and me that was the extent of His love toward us. Do we display that kind of love towards each other or do we harbor old grievances and attitudes?
As you go through the course of your day do you find yourself singing a familiar hymn or gospel song? Is your mind drawn to the things of God and do you find that you really enjoy thinking about these things? Maybe you need inspiration maybe you need to turn on the radio in order to hear the sound of praising hearts. Maybe you can be fully clothed by filling yourself with Gods word. Read a scripture passage that you love and dwell on it. Immerse yourself with Christian music and be filled with Jesus inside and out.
Let change happen. Do not fear what Jesus is making you into embrace it for you are being changed to show the world what the power of God can do with a sinners life.
Finally: Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.
