{"id":518,"date":"2013-05-16T13:40:49","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T17:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/voh\/?p=518"},"modified":"2014-07-22T11:33:13","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T15:33:13","slug":"the-newness-of-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/voh\/2013\/05\/16\/the-newness-of-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"The Newness of Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Spring is a time of sunshine and flowers. As we see the green grass and observe the birds sitting on their nests, we are prompted to reflect on the new life that we have in Christ!<\/p>\n

Many of us are familiar with 2 Corinthians 5:17 which tells us, \u201cTherefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.<\/em>\u201d When I read this verse, I think about the trees. In autumn all of the leaves of the trees turn brown and fall off. We see these bare, dry trees and think to ourselves how we cannot wait for spring because we know what’s coming. We know that the trees will bud and bloom
\nand become breathtakingly beautiful.<\/p>\n

This is the same way with us. God’s Word tells us that \u201cBut God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us<\/em>\u201d (Romans 5:8).<\/em> In other words, Christ saw us at our worst \u2013 dried up, brown, bare, undesirable \u2013 and thought to Himself, \u201cI cannot wait for ‘spring’. I cannot wait to make this creature my child. I can make her breathtakingly beautiful. I will provide a way to make her new\u201d. He saw each of us at our lowest point, and all He could think of was His desire to provide a way for us to be made new.<\/p>\n

So He died. He died for the dried up trees that we are so that if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior we can become new, with beautiful blossoms of His grace covering our shame. We can be seen as beautiful and righteous before a holy God; not because of any good that we have done, but because Christ has placed His own righteousness as a robe to cover us. We know that Christ was victorious in this because He then rose from the dead, proving
\nthat He truly did conquer sin and death \u2013 the things that make us unfit to enter into His Father’s perfect kingdom.<\/p>\n

Spring is a wonderful time to be reminded of the amazing grace that Christ has extended toward us. Like the trees, we too can be made new and beautiful. Join me in praising the Lord for His awesome love and mercy that we do not deserve!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring is a time of sunshine and flowers. As we see the green grass and observe the birds sitting on their nests, we are prompted to reflect on the new life that we have in Christ! Many of us are familiar with 2 Corinthians 5:17 which tells us, \u201cTherefore if anyone is in Christ, he… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[11872],"yoast_head":"\nThe Newness of Spring - Vision of Hope<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/voh\/2013\/05\/16\/the-newness-of-spring\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Newness of Spring - Vision of Hope\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Spring is a time of sunshine and flowers. As we see the green grass and observe the birds sitting on their nests, we are prompted to reflect on the new life that we have in Christ! 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