Reflection: From Now On (May 18, 2014)

The 5th Sunday in Easter
Acts 6:1-9, 7:2, 51-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14

There are points at which we become fully aware that from that moment on our lives are going to be different. These life-changing events can be wonderfully joyous or painfully troubling. Either way, something so significant has taken place that life will never be the same. We recognize the significance and the impact of events like graduating from school, the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, the end of a career, getting married, getting div
orced, and being permanently injured by even saying, “From now on, life is going to be different.” But we often end up struggling with the life that comes after our “from now on” events because we try to hold onto the life that we had before them. Denying that life has forever changed and trying to live our old lives only leads to frustration, disappointment, and failure.

Even if you can’t point to one in your earthly life, you can certainly point to a “from now on” event in your life in Christ. That moment came when you went from being estranged from God to becoming His child and being gathered into His Church through Holy Baptism. 1 Peter 2:10 explains that transformation this way: “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” From that moment on, your life has been caught up in Christ and you have lived in His grace. You were delivered out of the darkness of sin and death and were grafted into “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession.”

You’ve had that “from now on” experience, but has it affected your life as it was intended to?  The new life that you have in Christ is meant to be a life of joy and purpose, one in which you delight in proclaiming “the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” But if you set this aside and try to live as you once did before Christ came into your life frustration, disappointment, and failure is certain to follow. Everything about you and your life has been changed. There is no going back to the old life — and thank God for that! From now on you are in His grace. From now on you are growing up into salvation. From now on you are a “living stone” in His spiritual house with the extraordinary privilege of offering the days of your life as “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.” All this, and more, from now on … into eternity.

Click here to listen to the sermon "From Now On" (or right-click to download the MP3 file).