A Marvelous Beginning

Have you ever thought what a renewed life would bring? Did you ever wish for life with a marvelous beginning? It brings great joy and awe. Unless a person breaks out of the norm of life, he cannot begin a marvelous life. The norm of life is what we see around us on a day to day basis – the world order and the principles the world teaches to live by. Renewed life is the post thesis of change. It has a story to define itself. Its order is awe and esteem. No one born in the flesh can have the power to bring a renewed life upon himself. The only life he can have is the life of the world order. People may shift places in life by virtue of intelligence, knowledge or war, i.e. a poor man may become rich, a slave a king or a naïve an intellectual, but still those achievements are not blissful as renewed life.

A renewed life or a marvelous beginning is something that has come upon a person for the better and not for burden. All things that are born of the earth are burdensome. At some point they show it. Riches, poverty, slavery, kingship, naivety and intelligence are all burdensome when they are not begun marvelously. For a person to make a genuine impact and cause an unfading awe a manner that has never been known to exist in him must take place. This is marvelous. If you, like me, are someone who seriously seeks to be exceptional, you need a substance of different genre for a marvelous beginning. It must not be yours or the worlds. It must be God’s and it explains itself. In fact, it is God’s order that all believers become exceptional through the qualities and gifts He is able to give. It is for this reason there are different members of the body with different functions. A substance of different genre is like this. “A man there said, ‘Now, who is their father?’ Therefore it became a proverb: ‘Is Saul also among the prophets?’” (1 Sam. 10:12).

It is better that you are a proverb (awe) for God than a proverb opposing Him. How wonderful that something never found as an astonishing quality in you is bequeathed on you! This is the source for a renewed life. Forget men, their doctrine, precepts, conclusions and branding of you. They always exist no matter what and will one day fade away. They are a heap of hay that burns up when no longer necessary. They stood against King Saul as well only to be put away. But what does not commonly exist is the bequeathing of an astonishing quality on you by God’s strong interest in you. If that is yours, you make a genuine impact and cause an unfading awe to men and to God’s kingdom. As Paul you too may eventually boast in the Lord, for you receive the exhortation. “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense” (2 Chron. 29:11).

By having a renewed life, you not only receive the exhortation, but can also continually keep it. As long as you do not make a genuine impact and cause an unfading awe you are a mere churchgoer and cannot be a follower of the Lord, much less a believer. Your genuine impact and unfading awe may not have to be a carbon copy of King Saul. It could be something similar to Martin Luther who stood for the gospel. It could be anything for which you were moved by the Spirit of God. But it will be the factor that causes an impact, a rejection and acceptance or a shake-up. It is the basis of your ministry to God, your incense burning for Him. And God will prove you better than others just as He did His Son.  “You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever” (Ps. 45:2).

Renewed life is a work of God. Thus, your fairness than the sons of the world is a result of His substance in you. It is known by your speech, be it a message, rhetoric, writing, simple exhortation, wisdom, an argument, encouragement or a word you say in His name. The upshot is what you wished all along your life, but has now become yours through a marvelous beginning – to be blessed forever by the Almighty God. These blessings are so varied and unimaginable that Paul at one place simply said that God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think. Whether or not they all become visible to people is redundant, but as for you, you will surely know. Furthermore, you begin noticing the men and the things that stood against your marvelous beginning unwind right before you. It is the sure work of God. “Why have your mighty ones become prostrate? They do not stand because the LORD has thrust them down” (Jer. 46:15). It gives great satisfaction and joy to have a renewed life. Normally people are afraid of it, because of the fearful beginnings associated with it. But if they realize that it is the Almighty God they are depending on, the worries are far smaller than the glory to be revealed. Some abuse and degrade renewed life, because they fear losing ground. And they eventually lose ground anyway.

There is only one simple rule for renewed life. Do not walk away from it or God will have to bring you back. “Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, ‘How could you do this?’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them” (Jon. 1:10). God will use any means to bring you back, since His substance is in you; He dislikes suppressing it. And it could be distasteful as Jonah found out. Three days in fish’s belly might have had an effect on his body, not to mention the frightening moments in the raging sea water. The reasons to suppress renewed life may vary from one to another and there’s no guarantee that none of us will do a Jonah except when we stick to God’s plan (will). “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man” (John 1:9).

Once you are enlightened for His will you must stick to it. If you feel otherwise, it is better to seek His understanding than escape by your own conclusion, for our wisdom and intellect is so puny. But when He brings you back, it is not by hatred, but of His strong interest in you. It is only you out of the many that He has called for that purpose. He forgives your mistake even before He brings you back by determining to bring you back. But will He grieve your weak understanding? Yes. By grief He brings you back so that He can fulfill your purpose for Him and rejoice with you. Look for His enlightenment in areas for which you were called. By it He will distance you from areas by which you avoid excessive burden. In doing so He allows you to do His part so that you do not boast in yourself, but in Him. Paul lived up to God’s strong interest in him. He understood that God called him alone out of the many for a specific purpose. When he was trapped between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the enlightenment he received divided the judging crowd and it became the foundation for him to fulfill God’s part in Rome. “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all” (Acts 23:8).

A renewed life is a marvelous life that takes you down the road of joy. Do not miss it!

Posted in 2017, Archives, RECENT ARTICLES.