As we step into a new year, it is appropriate to recall the wonders of the new life we have gained as Christians.
‘New life’ on the BBC!
I was encouraged to see that the BBC agree with me, as ‘new life’ was the theme of their Songs of Praise programme last Sunday! It even had an added ‘running’ theme, which also chimes well with me.
We heard about Christian Runners UK, a club now spreading far and wide after founder Jason Westmoreland donned a T-shirt to express his faith. And it has since taken on in leaps and bounds; one regular runner started going back to church after noticing it.
Paralympic gold medallist Kadeena Cox then testified to how she is not defined by her sport, or her medals, or anything else, but by her faith. As a 23-year-old in 2014, Kadeena was struck by multiple sclerosis. Though she faces daily struggles, her illness made her realise that the only person who always “had her back” was God, and it also enabled her to empathise with the disabled community.
Personal testimony of ‘amazing grace’
As I have shared before, I came to Christ nearly 50 years ago when, for the first time in my young life, I failed to finish a marathon race. It made me realise I was heading nowhere in particular, and needed clear direction in my life.
When I heard that Jesus offered “life in all its fulness”, I asked him to take over the reins, and have never looked back.
So, when I heard that Jesus offered “life in all its fulness” (John 10:10), I asked him to take over the reins, and have never looked back. As the John Newton hymn goes, “I once was blind, but now I see”, and it was especially poignant to hear blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sing that number (‘Amazing Grace’) on the TV programme, which then concluded with old favourite ‘Go tell it on the mountain’, which was perfectly fitting in my case.
For it speaks of the evangelistic commission Jesus gave us, invoking the call of Isaiah the prophet to announce good news on the mountains of Jerusalem (Isa 40:9 & 52:7).
I see my calling as specifically that – to proclaim the gospel to the Jew first (Rom 1:16) – which has required me to be fit in my advancing years and explains why the Lord told me to start running again as I approached my 60th year. He had a spiritual task in mind for which I needed to be physically fit, a line of thinking echoed by an elderly priest who also took part in the aforementioned ‘Songs of Praise’ programme.
Explaining that everything we have is a gift from God, he said that we insult the giver if we don’t look after the gift.
Explaining that everything we have is a gift from God, he said that we insult the giver if we don’t look after the gift. And the greatest of all gifts is Jesus.
Epiphany - revealing
I like the way author and priest Gordon Giles, in his book ‘At Home in Advent’, stresses the importance of reflection, especially over the season of Advent and Christmas, concluding with Epiphany on January 6th.
The world forgets about Christmas after December 25th, and everyone moves on. But we need to keep meditating on the wonder of God himself coming among us. He’s not just for Christmas! Moreover, Epiphany, which means revealing, and traditionally celebrates the visit of the magi to the baby Jesus, is also meant to focus on his baptism as well as his miracle of changing water into wine.
Jesus still changes our water into wine; the ordinariness of our lives is transformed into something extraordinary.
It would seem that the chief purpose of the latter, recorded in John’s gospel (chapter 2), was in revealing Jesus as Israel’s long-promised Messiah. Some at least of the Jewish wedding party would surely have understood its significance, because, in their traditional prayer (the kiddush), as they begin their evening meal each Sabbath, they always acknowledge God as Creator of the Universe and of the fruit of the vine. And here he was, in human form, doing just that in front of their eyes!
Drinking his living water
John 7:37-38 Heartlight.org
Jesus still changes our water into wine; the ordinariness of our lives is transformed into something extraordinary. I love the expression Giles uses in referring to “the intoxicating wine of salvation”1. Champagne has nothing on what God can do for you through his Son Jesus, who also says: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37).
And it all happened at Cana in Galilee, where my life too was changed in the year 2000. My wife Linda, whom I had yet to meet, had a vision of our wedding, which took place a year later just as she saw it at that church built on the site of Jesus’ first miracle.
Do you need a miracle in your life? Jesus is waiting with open arms to welcome you and restore intoxicating joy to your life. Just open the door of your heart now, and let him in.
Notes
1Gordon Giles, At Home in Advent (Bible Reading Fellowship)
