All Things New part 1
"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful" (Revelatin 21:5). I think this is an appropriate Rant series to start on New Years Day. It's a hopeful day. A day full of limitless possibility. The beginning of something. A while ago I Ranted about the idea of turning over a new leaf. And I tried to illustrate the truth that WE don't have to (and can't) turn over a new leaf. But we HAVE been grafted into a whole new true. That's the simple truth of the matter: It's not something we do. It's something Jesus did (both for us and as us) on the cross. Which is what Revelation 21:6 says, "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." See, JESUS (He that sits upon the throne) made all things new. And I said MADE because in the next verse He told us--on the cross He told us--it is done. It is finished. When we try to make ourselves new, we miss the point that we have already been made new! And this is so glorious to me: God didn't say He made all new things. He didn't give up on us and try something different. He didn't try Plan A and then have to go to Plan B. Jesus IS Plan A. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the new thing that all things became at the cross. Jesus remade the world in His image. Mankind was created in God's image in the beginning. But because man didn't know what God looked like, man didn't know what HE looked like. So on the cross man (who was already created in God's image) was CONFORMED to the image of Jesus. He was made new. He wasn't discarded, He was redeemed! And not just man; all things. Jesus remade the WORLD in His image. Everything. That's why all of creation is groaning and waiting for the manifestation of the Son(s) of God. Because we shape our reality by what we believe... by what we say, or confess. We have the power and the authority to rule and reign on the earth. What we release into the earth is what we HAVE in the earth. Because what's in us comes out of us. And, with this conformation of our true identity as Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body--what's in us (what we KNOW and BELIEVE is in us) is love. That's the new thing that Jesus made all things. Jesus is all in all. There's nothing that was made that wasn't made by Him. And what He made... is Himself. Himself in us and through us and as us. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there really are limitless possibilities. Limitless opportunities--not to make ourselves new, but to be who we really are. Limitless opportunities to love. To release what we have received. To truly live the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life that is the love relationship between the Father and the Son, simply by letting Jesus--letting love--do whatever He wants to do in and through and as us!