(K) a return to normality
When I removed the Christmas decorations, packed them and put them back in their old place, I told myself that I could finally return to normal. Whatever that normality may be. Once somebody told me that normalcy is just a function on the tumble dryer and I suspect that most people think this is true.
Should we return to normal after Christmas? Can we go back to the way we were after experiencing Jesus? His birth touches us with the sublimity of God becoming one of us, giving up his glory and his place with the Father to live as a human being like us. He ate, drank, and slept. (Phil 2)He made himself into a vulnerable, helpless baby, dependent on his parents to guide him safely through childhood.
During his ministry, he gave us an insight into the power he possessed by healing people, calming the stormy seas, feeding the multitudes, and even raising the dead. He also showed us his soulful, loving side, by showing charity to the people who had been rejected by society.
We are touched by it when we walked on his path of suffering, which he courageously and trusting in his father up to his fate, death on the cross. I get tears in my eyes as I think of the loving care for his mother and the prayer for forgiveness for those responsible for his death. He sent the Holy Spirit to encourage, help and inspire us forever. He did not leave us alone and we are comforted and strengthened daily by his presence. Jesus calls us to him as we are, but he doesn't want us to stay that way. One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to make us a new creation. Unlike who we were before we were renewed by him. In 2. Korinther 5,17 it says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has passed, see, the new has come. "
We can - and many people do the same - continue to think and live after hearing the story of Jesus with His Hope-giving Life. As we do so, we may deny him access to the most intimate part of our heart, just as we are likely to keep a casual acquaintance, friend or even spouse away from our innermost thoughts and feelings. It is possible to block the Holy Spirit and keep him at a distance. He will allow it sooner than to force our way.
But Paul's advice in Romans 12:2 is that we allow ourselves to be transformed by him through the renewal of our minds. This can only happen if we give God our whole life: our sleep, our food, our going to work, our daily routines. Receiving what God does for us is the best thing we can do for him. If we focus our attention on him, we will be transformed from the inside out. Not like the society around us, which constantly tries to drag us down to the level of immaturity, but God brings out the best in us and develops maturity within us.
If we allow our lives to be transformed by Christ, we will behave like Peter and John, who amazed the rulers, elders, and scholars in Jerusalem, as well as the people. These ordinary men became courageous and sovereign defenders of the faith because they were one with Jesus in spirit. (Apg 4)For them and for us, once we have come into contact with his grace, we cannot return to normality.
by Tammy Tkach
