trbccoffeebreak

“And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”  Ephesians 1:19-21 (ESV)

This past Fall, we purchased three really big mums while traveling through Charlottesville.  Our plan was to get them in the ground before frost so they would hopefully root and bloom again.  Unfortunately, this didn’t happen.  Our schedules got busy and we totally forgot about it.  So these brown and dead mums have remained in pots in our side yard all winter.

Saturday morning was beautiful and sunshiny, so I decided to do some yard clean up. And boy was I in for a surprise.  While grabbing one of the potted mums to throw it away, I happened to notice there was green underneath all the dead.  My first thought was weeds had overtaken the pot.  But as I began to cut off the dead, I realized it was the mum coming back to life – I’ve never had that happen from a potted mum.  Once, I removed all the dead part growing overtop of the plant, I had a full basket of  freshly growing mum!  I checked out the other pots and the same was true.  What was once dead was resurrected to new – I can’t wait for them to bloom again.

Absolutely love that our God is the great Resurrecter of our dead places.  The cross and the empty grave are proof of Jesus’ death and resurrection – the reason for the hope living within us.   And the very same power God used to raise Jesus to life is the same power which births life from our dead places.  We are not doomed to a life consumed with sin but rather are set free to walk in the power of God to overcome. No matter how ugly or lifeless – God can resurrect these places and bring new life.

Sin that we cherish or excuse away will never yield God’s beauty – its death to our soul will be evident to all. Ineffective and lifeless, we will wander through this life and miss out on victory.  Only when we confess, repent and embrace His power can we walk in vibrancy and life – resurrected for His glory.

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4 (ESV)

“Father, the tomb is empty and heaven is full of the glory of Jesus – worthy is the Lamb that was slain

For His Glory

Janet Martin
TRBC Women’s Life