New Life

Today I read the first four chapters in Song of Solomon and Ephesians 1:11-2:9. My favorite verses are:

Song of Solomon 2:11-12 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

I realize that we are at exactly the opposite end of the season spectrum to that described here, but the verses in Song of Solomon reminded me that God controls the seasons—they come and go because he established the order of creation. Some people think springtime is the best time of the year because it is a time of awakening of plants and animals after the long sleep of winter. Do you see how that is reflected in a spiritual context with the verses from Ephesians? Salvation is new life—a spiritual awakening from being, not just asleep, but dead in sin. We see just such physical/spiritual comparisons all through the Bible. The physical is but an image of the spiritual. We are made in the image of God and drawn to him by the great love that He has for us as His creation. But He wants much more; He desires a spiritual relationship with us. He wants us to be part of His family forever. We cannot accomplish salvation by works any more than a flower can grow itself from nothing. A seed must be planted—God’s Spirit convicting us of the sin in our lives. The soil must be right; there must be water and sunshine and proper care for the flower to grow. God must supply us with faith and grace before we can be saved.

After we are saved, there is much more growing to do, but that is in tomorrow’s scripture. I was blessed today by the messages in our worship services. Our Youth Minister Tony Young challenged us to be faithful in prayer as we seek the will of the Lord in our lives. He asked us to commit ourselves to live the next thirty days as if they were the last days of our lives. Would you do things differently if you only had a month to live? I hope you will think about that as you go about your daily routine; and maybe, just maybe, it won’t be so routine!