Everything Changes
We shouldn’t put down people who show great euphoria and excitement after a born again or religious experience. They’re right. Suddenly the world makes sense for them. Suddenly it’s okay, despite the absurdity, the injustice, the pain. Life is now so spacious that we can even absorb the contradictions. God is so great, so bottomless, so empty, that God can absorb even the contraries, even the collision of opposites. Thus salvation often feels like a kind of universal amnesty, a total forgiveness of ourselves and all other things.
—Richard Rohr
Everything Belongs
Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). The renewing work begins in our lives the moment we trust Jesus. He transforms you (in a process called sanctification) “by the renewing of your mind so you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” He enlarges your perspective, from the temporal to the eternal; He gives you ears to hear and eyes to see the bigger picture. He gives you faith to rest assured in things that are promised, though as of yet unseen. Salvation is more than a fire escape, or ‘get-out-of-hell-free card. It is a renewing fountain of God’s goodness and grace that our souls crave. Come to the table. Feast on His goodness. Celebrate His gift of salvation! —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics