Well, not really. The journey began quite a long time ago. But this is where is guess our journey together will begin.
I am sitting in a hotel in Dawsonville, Georgia. A good friend of mine is getting married today. In just a few hours, he will be immersed, or baptized, as is the tradition. And the Lord has been speaking over the past few days, about leaving the past behind. And He did it in an unexpected way.
A few days ago, I was sitting with a pastor friend, and he shared this experience with me. His church, several years ago, was in financial trouble, when he was accepted as their pastor. For a long time, it was his goal to rebuild the church to its former state. He said that he just knew that with time and the right ministries and resources, they could become what they had been in the past. And it wasn't working. It wasn't until he came to the realization that he didn't need the church to be what it was, because the Lord was wanting to use what it is.
That started me thinking. How many people are stuck trying to recapture the past when God is really wanting to use their present? The principle wasn't just for churches, or congregations, or organizations. It was fro each one of us. As believers, God has already rebuilt us into something new. We are new creations in Him. And He did it in order to use us as the new creation. If we try to go back, and be something that we were, or that we wanted to be, we are actually working against the Lord, Who wants to use us just the way we are right now.
Why did this come up with respect to the wedding later today? When we become married, we also become something new. A new unity, made up of two parts, yet one. "The two shall become one flesh." If either of those people tries to move forward after that wedding with notions that they will continue to be exactly as they were, they will be mistaken, and are in for a long, difficult road. God desires to use the new creation, the married couple, in a new way. Together.
As His bride, He desires the same thing for all believers. Yet, so often, I try to continue to do things myself, without relying on my bridegroom, Messiah Yeshua. And that is working against the Lord. No wonder things get difficult! So as I watch my friend be immersed this morning, a visual symbol of leaving his past behind, and moving forward into his new future with his bride, and will recommit to moving forward as the new creation that I am in Him, and not try to rebuild the past, which wasn't working anyway.
Rabbi Neal
