Every time a new year begins, we often feel that we have a blank slate before us. A new start, or beginning, a chance at making a change or progress. Have you recently reflected on the time in your life when the most important new beginning was gifted to you? Perhaps it was years ago, or perhaps it was only last week.
When we accept Jesus as our savior, we go from being fully dead in our sin to being fully alive in Christ. What a joyous occasion! If you’ve experienced this, we like to call this process being “born again.” The Apostle Peter describes it this way:
1 Peter 1:23 - "You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable [that's the Spirit of God], through the living and abiding word of God."
Certainly every farmer would appreciate a bag of imperishable seed. The return on such a commodity would last generations. According to what Peter tells us, this valuable seed is now our core and has the ability to produce abundant fruit. When you take this living essence, the Spirit of God, into your workplace, you are simply living into the true meaning of being “born again.”
It takes boldness to step into a workplace or any public space and bring Christ to the center of it. Take courage in the fact that God’s word is “abiding.” Even Peter faltered when he walked on the water. He was able to take that first step but how quickly the sinking occurred! If you find yourself discouraged or in crisis, remember what it means to be born again. It means God’s presence abiding in us! Daniel Montgomery explains,
God’s presence moves us outside of ourselves into the mess of ministry. The Spirit moves us to action.That’s what we see in the early church. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit showed up and redirected the apostles’ attention away from themselves to God’s greater purposes. They were moved from the solitude of the upper room to public worship–-public boasting in God.1
Fortunately, God doesn’t need to wait for the beginning of the year to begin a new work in us. Whatever the season is, take some time to remember that we live with an imperishable Spirit, with the same power of the word that shaped the universe and brought life onto this planet.
