New Normal

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 3:18  



“Nothing stays the same” the saying goes and with it most of us begin to squirm with a sense of discomfort for the simple reason we like our routines and change is not something we easily embrace. It’s hard to imagine there was anyone who adjusted as well to change and maintained their joy throughout the ever changing seasons of life more than the apostle Paul. He wrote in Philippians 4:11, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” Anyone who has watched the news as of late has heard a catch phrase that has been around for years but now seems to be gaining traction and gotten all of our attention since nothing seems normal any more. It use to be when someone experienced some traumatic event in life such as death, be it of a loved one, a relationship, the loss of a job, a pet, or even a friendship the most frequent response to the question, “how are you doing” was met with, “you know, just adjusting to my new normal.”  

The good news today, friends is, “new normal” isn’t a bad thing in God’s economy, actually it is the pathway to the best things! The coronavirus has created in all our lives a “new normal” since life as we know it now looks little or nothing like it did the way it was before the COVID-19 struck humanity. It’s as if God has allowed the world to experience a “reset” over the past few months. I know for millions around the world “sheltering in place” has a served as a spiritual awakening, a chance to look up instead of having our hand to the plow and looking down just going about our daily business never knowing there were actually roses along the way just waiting to be smelled. Like it or not we have all had a chance to reevaluate our priorities in life and then to submit afresh to God’s will.

The apostle Paul was able to embrace his own “new normal” by understanding that nothing this side of heaven was designed to remain the same. Life is in constant state of motion from the moment we were conceived and doesn’t end even when we breathe our last breath. The Spirit lives on as it doesn’t require oxygen for survival. The apostle expressed the best way to embrace our new normal in Philippians 3:13-14 when he penned these words, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

In other words, yesterday is history! We all do well to let it go and seize the day believing in faith “the glory of God is man fully alive” and that being fully alive is only accomplished when we find our lives in Jesus!


“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

John 1:4  
 

I LOVE YOU!