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Saturday... From my point of view it doesn't look new.


Saturday... From my point of view it doesn't look new. It really doesn't.

I'm looking out of the window of the Skye Canyon Starbucks at a parked RV that looks like it has been used and maybe abused. For sure it has a flat tire so it is not going to be driven off the parking lot. But it's possible that someone slept in it last night. Now I haven't been in it so I don't know what it is like on the inside. But from my point of view it doesn't look too good but what if a new owner took over that RV? Changes could happen on the inside. 

Our lives can be like that, can't they? Now we would like to change our outside but time can hinder that but Christ can change our inside which affects our outside.. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 says, "So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" And that is such good news.

In verses 14b-15 it says, "Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them." That is such good news. Our inside has changed and it has even affected our outside. But Paul takes it a step farther.

What if this new owner traded in the old RV for a new one. That would make all the difference. And we too have that possibility.

Verses 1- 5 says, "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on new bodies so that these dieing bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us by his Holy Spirit."

Margaret and I are going next week to Phoenix to celebrate a good friend's getting his new body. And that is a great way to view death. It's still not easy for those who are left behind but it is a great way to view what is ahead for all of us who have given our lives over to God. Thank you, God for the encouragement and for helping us evaluate our life from your point of view. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning




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