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Come Alive



Here where I live, Spring is starting to, well, spring! I was out on a bike ride this weekend when I snapped this picture of a tree that once was “dead” that is now blooming again. This is a rite of passage that we see about this time of the year every year. Soon, lots of plants will be blooming, and here in North Texas, we will be cursing the pollen and the other things in the air that will inevitably make us sneeze. But it is an easy time to overlook the beauty of nature as it comes out of its winter slumber and awakens to another year of growth and vibrancy.

What was once dead is now alive again - all around us this time of year.

I have an almost visceral reaction to the flowering bushes and trees and plants. This isn’t just the story of year another spring coming - it’s my story.

Too many people seem to equate Christianity as a set of rules by which we must obey and follow, or else there is a divine god ready to smite us with lightning bolts. Nothing could be further from the truth of the Gospel that we see in Scripture. Jesus said in John 10:10b, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (ESV). There are two huge implications of this that seem to come more alive to me with each passing year.

First - I was once dead. Now, of course I wasn’t literally a zombie walking around, but something inside of me was definitely dead. Until I really understood grace - not just intellectually, but deep down in the core of my being, in the places we don’t like to talk about too often - there was a part of me that in reality was dead. I was dead in my sin. Now, if I go and ask the average Joe Good Guy on the street if he feels dead, the likelihood here in Texas is that he thinks he’s doing pretty well, and feels pretty good about himself. It saddens me to know how much he’s missing out on. The pure elation that I feel knowing I am 100%, unequivocally fully known by GOD - the good, the bad, and the ugly - and at the same time 100%, unequivocally fully loved by the same is mind boggling. One cannot know what it is to be alive, when we have to keep the sham of “I’m alright” constantly going. When we face the truth that GOD loves us “just as I am”, and not some future version of me - man! That just makes me come alive!

Secondly - Jesus didn’t just come to give me a “so so” life. He came to give it in abundance. Jesus, for the joy set before him, came and bore the cross (Hebrews 12:2). He didn’t come throwing a fit, begrudgingly, like the two year olds that we see being drug around Target. The very Creator of the universe came and endured the cross for me. How high of a payment is that? With a payment like that, we were not bought just to “grin and bear it”, but to have life abundantly! We are invited into something that transcends circumstances, or riches, or happiness - we have been invited into a loving relationship with the GOD that made spectacular sunsets, and made the super novas in space, and made puppies to play with, and oceans to watch, and music to dance to, and .... This GOD invites you into relationship with Him!

I was dead, and now this is who I am. I am fully know. I am fully loved. I know the GOD of the universe. ...and every spring, on quiet bike rides in North Texas, I see little reminders all around me that GOD is still calling us to “Come Alive!”. I pray you know this GOD.

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