Would you like a new life? Are you tired of the constant stress of working to measure up to expectations? From Parents? Family? Siblings? Teachers? Colleagues? Coaches? Anyone or anything, even phantom expectations we put on ourselves?
Some expectations are admirable and just, such as: be kind, drive safely, obey the laws of the land. . . . But left to our humanity, it is far too easy to get stuck or even overwhelmed with all the demands on our lives, especially in these rapidly changing and polarized times. It easily exhausts our bodies, souls and spirits.
In the long run there are limits we can directly do about how those around us and their expectations of us. We, however, are not without options.
Maybe, just maybe, what we are working to live up to is not actually what our Creator originally intended us to live up to.
Reframing our lives and identities to our Creator’s viewpoint can help us understand ourselves and our circumstances. This understanding can begin to release us from unreasonable expectations. In turn can empower us to respond to expectations increasingly as Christ does. We do this by tapping into our Makers transforming power once we begin a new life in Christ. This new life gives us the transforming power of love.
Apostle Paul tells us:
14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us.[c]Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.[d] 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
That means, Jesus becomes both power source and our standard, not the competing voice of the world. Paul continues:
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!
Now that we have received new life in Christ.
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5
Followers of Jesus Christ now have new life, with new, transforming empowerment for life and godliness. That power is our Creator’s perfect love. As it transforms us from the inside out, it will splash over to those around us, as we agree with it.
Would you like a new life? It is the perfect love of Jesus Christ that offers us new life, and makes us ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
