Photo credits: Image photographed by Sharon Huang-Wok

Writer: Annabelle Ang-Bok

“You must be born again!”

In the past year or so, I’ve found myself taking this command beyond literally, whether or not I meant to. It started with two simultaneous series of events, both of which completely overhauled my life in opposite directions, and the rollercoaster is now reaching a peak with the official launch of the new CLV—new website and all.

Still, why pick a seemingly trite theme like Rebirth for a magazine’s re-launch?

Because I believe that sometimes, it’s the most clichéd things that are the most powerful—we’ve forgotten their power because we’re fatigued from their overuse. Because the twists my life has taken have opened my eyes to the fact that many believers today are allowing themselves to float idly along on a lazy river[1] built on clichés. This has to stop, somewhere, and soon.

I am not saying that there is one straight road and one way to be in “the perfect will of God”, but there are a few basic things that our Creator has set forth quite clearly in His Word, and if we aren’t even conscious of these statements and commands, then how can we possibly be in the right places at the right moments to do what He has called us each to do?

All Things New… Or Are They?

If 2 Corinthians 5:17 is to be taken seriously, then for the Christian, stagnation of any sort should be avoided at all cost. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” But how many believers have a conscious knowledge of verses like this? And of those who do, how many are active practitioners?

In recent discussions with my fellowship groups and random friends, I’ve realised that many believers are so caught up in trying to live their lives according to their ideals that they have become almost completely unaware of what the Lord desires for them. Some are so comfortable with the way they have structured their own lives that they are almost unable to comprehend doing anything differently. Others are so devoted to their churches and/or church leaders that they cannot imagine how some common church practices might not actually be Biblical.

The list goes on, and I find it rather sad that when I run a Google search for quotes on the topics of rebirth and renewal, hardly any strong quotes come up that arise from a Christian or Biblical viewpoint. In fact, this was the quote that came up tops at nearly every site I browsed:

Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.
—Mahatma Gandhi

It is my belief that we are children of God should carry such an attitude, especially since His Word provides us with beautiful passages like Lamentations 3:22–24, which says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

No Excuse For Laziness

It has become a revelation to me in the past year that the new covenant (spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31, Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25, etc.) can very easily become a believer’s excuse to be lazy. After all, the old covenant based on the law has been done away with (Hebrews 8:13) and we have been called to a “new and living way” (Hebrews 10:20) in which our labour strives towards entering into rest (Hebrews 4:9–11). What can go wrong when the joyous “task” of beholding the Lord’s beauty and glory is the very thing that allows Him to change us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18)?

Well, it’s when we over-luxuriate in our knowledge of the above points and lose sight of what we’re called and instructed to do that the trouble starts: Anything that seems to require “effort” on our part begins to look like an insult to the finished work of Christ, and many Christians stop at that point—stagnating in their understanding of the fullness of God and the spiritual world.

Friends, we must not forget that God gives clear direction to us to put effort into effecting our own spiritual growth! First Timothy 4:13 and 15 tells us clearly to “give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.”

We are also told explicitly, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). And as we all know, one’s mind is often the hardest thing to change! Quoting the likes of Psalm 51:10 and Ephesians 4:23–24 to argue that God is the one who enacts this mind change without our active participation is just a cop-out, really, because it’s clear throughout the Bible that God respects the free choice that He Himself gave us.

It’s best to take a practical approach to this because the Christian life is meant to be lived practically, and not experienced in the manner in which a couch potato experiences a television programme:

The way you think is… a habit as much as the way you brush your teeth in the morning. We can train our minds to be positive or we can train our minds to be negative. That is a fact. We can choose our thoughts. Satan may offer his realm of thoughts but we can choose our thoughts just as we can choose how we develop our habits.[2]
—Pastor Peter Tan

Moving Forward In Newness Of Life

These days, it’s so easy to find ways to turn our focus to Jesus that we really have no excuse not to do it. Bibles are easy to find and Christian devotional material can be found in most secular bookstores. Online, all it takes is a couple of clicks before a vast world of text, audio and video material is displayed for your choosing. The God we worship is also a loving Father who says, “[You] will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you” (Jeremiah 19:13–14).

Make a firm decision to find time to refresh your soul in the Lord every day, and you will surely see a difference in the way you live, and in the clarity with which you perceive the future. Artists, you will definitely find your art taking on new depth and perspective as the Creator begins to play a bigger part in your thought life and impart new gifts to you. The Word does promise that “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

This year—2010—may be half-over but it’s never too late to make a new start, especially in Christ. It’s up to you how fast and how far you want to progress in your knowledge of and relationship with Him, though, so take up this delightful pursuit and you will very soon be wonderfully surprised to find that your Pursued has really been your Pursuer from the beginning!

[2] Quoted from “Renewal of the Mind”, in the “Waiting on the Lord” series. < http://petertan.net/text/wg4mind.htm>, accessed 27 May 2010.

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

CAPTCHA Code *