It’s easy to assume the way we’ve been doing life is simply the way life should be done. And it seems the older we get the more we take our lifestyle and the way we see the world for granted. But occasionally God invites us into a new thing – a fresh way of seeing our life and relationships.
As kids and even young adults, the whole world is new and so we tend to be fairly open and impressionable about new ways of seeing things. And naturally, we eventually develop a pretty solid understanding of the world around us, and our place in it.
But all too often this understanding becomes so rigid we’re no longer open to new possibilities for engaging life. We become like the religious leaders so stuck in their traditions that they missed the good news of Jesus Christ standing right in front of them. And like Nicodemus, we also must be born again to experience the fullness of what God has for us today.
And this is where it gets difficult.
A new birth requires us to become aware of the water we’re swimming in. And this is not to suggest that it’s wrong per se. But it is recognizing its limitations and that perhaps an infinite God still has more for us to discover of his goodness.
What we call a midlife crisis is often the labor pains of this new birth. But it’s not limited to midlife or even to what we would consider as religious conversions. There are times for a new birth in our paid work and life’s mission, within our marriage and friendships, our health, finances, general lifestyle and the like.
And to embrace the new means we must also be willing to give up the old – burning the bridges of a past that no longer serve us to fully enter into the new season God has for us today.
In the end, don’t assume you’ve already arrived and that God has nothing new for you. Stay open to all the ways in which he continues to invite you into a new birth throughout your life and relationships.
Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash
