Cultivating a Spirit of Newness
Let’s face
it, we all desire new things. They
inspire us until the newness begins to
wear off. God’s desire for our lives is
to give us a new heart that constantly
springs forth with a sense of newness
thrusting us forward into His purposes
for our lives. However, it is our
responsibility to cultivate our hearts
so that we keep the essence of newness
alive while engaging in His assignments.
Ezekiel 36:26 I will
give you a new heart and put a new
spirit within you; I will take the heart
of stone out of your flesh and give you
a heart of flesh.
The problem is our
hearts constantly get trampled on by the
world and its desires along with life’s
circumstances. We tend to become
hardened as a result. Therefore, if we
are to remain in a state of freshness
with a constant sense of newness, our
hearts need to be cultivated daily. We
must continually break up the fallow
ground of our hearts if we want the seed
of newness to produce the desired fruit.
- Hosea 10:12
The word
cultivate means to prepare for raising
crops, loosen or break up the soil,
foster growth, and improve by labor,
care, or study. The next verse in Hosea
explains why our hearts get hard from
being trampled on. It says we partake of
the fruit of lies and trust in our ways.
The worldly system of thought is full of
lies because the father of all lies,
Satan, controls it. Yet, we find
ourselves attracted to his lies and ways
of thinking by trusting in our ways
rather than God’s.
In John the
Baptist’s message to those who came to
him for baptism and heard his message,
he gave good instruction on cultivating
and bearing fruit. When he arrived on
the scene, John came with the message,
“Prepare the way for the presence of
Jesus.” He came to plow the ground or
cultivate it so that those who heard him
could prepare for the newness that was
about to spring forth for the Nation of
Israel and the entire world. - Luke
3:4-6
What was the message John used
to get their attention? How did he go
about cultivating their hearts so that
they could hear the message? He began by
using shock treatment to get their
attention by calling them a brood of
vipers. Using shock treatment helped
them see their hearts' condition and
need for repentance. He was showing them
the wretchedness of their sin. Even
though we are new creatures in Christ,
we change from glory to glory, which
means, if we are to maintain a sense of
newness, we must continually recognize
and repent from the wretchedness of the
sin that holds us back from going to the
next level of change.
The Baptist
then began to strip away their
protective shields by telling them, “Do
not begin to say to yourselves, `We have
Abraham as our father.' For I say to you
that God is able to raise up children to
Abraham from these stones.” What is John
doing? He’s tearing away everything that
was secure to them. They said, "We're
good Jews. We obey the commandments.
We're God's chosen people.” He first
attacks their sense of righteousness and
belonging in God's sight as to who they
are.
He strips away their
protective shields to identify with
their need for a Savior. By stripping
away their protective shields, it
allowed them to see the actual condition
of their hearts. We should ask
ourselves, “What kind of protective
shields do we have around our hearts
that we need to allow God to tear away
to reveal our true condition before the
Lord?”
As we take his message to heart, we
become sincere in our repentance. The
Father is looking for those to whom He
can draw unto Jesus, and this can only
happen as a person's heart is prepared
through brokenness, which paves the way
for cultivation.
The Baptist then
hits hard on the theme of repentance,
introduced earlier in the passage when
he said, "Therefore bear fruits worthy
of repentance.”
The
Baptist continues to reveal the types of
temptation that are common in all walks
of life of which repentance is
necessary. To those blessed with
abundance, his message was to provide.
To continue to horde amid needs is a sin
that requires repentance. To the tax
collectors or those in charge of
collecting various fees, his message was
to be honest. To soldiers, police
officers, and those in places of
authority, the message was don't
intimidate, accuse falsely and be
content. John's message was simple.
There must be a change in the heart –
God is about to act – Judgment is coming
– And you must have a new life!
What
particular temptations in our spheres of
life and influence do we deal with
continually that cause our hearts to
harden through sin? God is calling all
of us to repent and turn to Him so that
the times of refreshing will come. He
desires each of us to experience the
wonderful newness that enables us to
walk with a sense of enthusiasm and zeal
that brings us into the fulfillment of
all our hopes and dreams. The words of
the apostle Paul express this thought
perfectly - 2 Corinthians 7:11
Therefore, it is expedient we take to
heart the message to prepare the way for
the presence of the Lord. But, first, we
must ask Him, “What areas of my heart
have I allowed to become hardened by the
pressures of the world and the
circumstances of life?” Then we must
break up the fallow ground by applying
His word to those areas that have become
hardened by our sinful ways.
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