The reality of a new day in Christ.

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“…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
2 Corinthians 5:17 New Living Translation

I  know there are many of you reading this blog who rarely see a sunrise. You’re familiar with sunsets that might look something like this but it’s not normal for you to watch the day begin. This isn’t my problem. My eyes have a tendency to wake up before the sun appears on the horizon. Call it genetics or call it age, it’s my reality.

I wasn’t planning on taking pictures of the sunrise when I plotted out my plan for the Holy Cross men’s retreat, yet as I lay in bed knowing that I wasn’t going back to sleep, I decided to put on my winter coat, gloves and fuzzy aviator hat and hike to the crest of a hill on National Forest Service land.

I didn’t know where the sun would appear, but was pleased when its advent was between these hills. And so began another day.

In Christ, every day is a new day for you. You are a new person. Even though you might wake up feeling like the same old person, wrestling with the same old problems, you have been declared forgiven through Christ. Today is not the same as yesterday. The Son of God’s love has risen on you. Today God has graced you with the reality of a new beginning. “The old life is gone: a new life has begun.” And it begins anew today.

Lord, God, my gracious heavenly Father, I cannot thank you enough that my past has been buried with your Son and that I live in him today. As you have buried my sin with him, so also raise me to that new life you have prepared for me. Amen

Text and Picture Copyright Douglas P Brauner