Hope you all had a great Christmas full of rest , and enjoyed a safe New Year! Speaking of a new year, welcome to 2014! It's a New Year, and of course that means a new start. But I'm not talking about not eating chocolate, going to the gym more or giving up the cigarettes. No no. I'm talking about a new start spiritually.
Maybe it's the year you want to commit your life to Jesus. Or perhaps it's a good time to look back on 2013 and learn from it, and start 2014 with a renewed sense of purpose and freedom in the Spirit of God. I know personally, I would like to leave several aspects of my character in 2013 and let God really transform those parts of my life this year.
Thinking of a new start and about letting Jesus transform your life, I've been looking at the passage of Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar healed by Jesus, who restored his sight and thus radically changed his life. You may think it's a little strange that I've chosen to focus on this passage in regards to a new year and a new start, but follow with me and hopefully you'll catch my thought in all this.
'Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.'
- Mark 10 v 50
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| Zaiga Boitmane Photography |
It's very easy to read this passage and to simply skim over the first part of verse 50. But think about it, why did he throw his cloak to the side, leaving it behind as he went to follow Jesus? My opinion, and you may disagree, is that his cloak was a symbol of his old life. The cloak represented every day of his life when he sat by the side of the road in blindness begging for money. Then Bartimaeus is healed by Jesus, he is no longer blind - physically or spiritually - and the last thing he wants to do is bring part of his old life with him in his new life with Jesus Christ.
Makes you think, right? When did you give your life to Jesus? And did you throw "your cloak" behind? Did you leave your 'old life', your sinful nature, "your cloak" behind? If you're anything like me, you probably have clung to your aspects of your old life. I know I haven't let go of certain aspects of my character that just don't have a place in my new life of walking in the Spirit.
2014 is the year when many resolutions will not make it to 2015, if even lasting this far. It's the year the World Cup will be in Brazil. It's a year that will make make and break many people. But it's a year of change, so let's make it a positive change. Let's leave behind our cloaks of the old life, and fully embrace the new life God has graced us with. Let 2014 be the year that God uses you!
So let's throw our cloaks aside, jump to our feet and come to Jesus!
Be blessed
