We all know the saying: “April showers bring May flowers.” Growing up, I could not wait for spring to come: for the weather to warm up, the grass to turn green, the trees to start budding out, and for me and my friends coming together for our weekly baseball game.
Spring is when everything that has been lying dormant during the cold winter months suddenly comes to life. It is a period of newness and it can happen over night. You can wake up one morning and find that everything has come to life, and it is beautiful! It does something to me personally as well. I’m older, but I feel new, too. I feel positive and ready to take on some new challenges. It is a new day and I’m excited.
In Acts 5:20 an angel of the Lord told the Disciples, “tell the people the full message of this new life.” God has given us new life in Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us that anyone who comes to Christ becomes a “new creation”. It is a new life in Christ! We are forgiven, we are right with God, we have been purified from all unrighteousness, and we no longer live by our own strength. In Christ you are new and you don’t even have to wait for spring.
Going back to Acts 5: there is a great story there. The high priest and all the Sadducees were tired of the disciples so they arrested them and threw them in jail. They thought, “Problem solved”. That night, an angel released them from jail and told them to go in the temple courts and to tell the people the message of this new life. At dawn they began teaching and preaching the Gospel. Meanwhile the Sanhedrin showed up and told the guards to drag those pesky disciples out of their jail cell. They found the cell locked, guards standing at the cell door, but no disciples inside! To their horror, they found them in the courtyard preaching about Jesus.
They threatened them again and again, even had them flogged, but it didn’t work. “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” Acts 5:42 What had happened to these disciples who just weeks before were hiding behind closed doors and terrified of their own shadow? They had been transformed! Spring had come, bringing a new day, a new spirit, and the Spirit of Christ now lived within them. They had become fearless and ready to change the world for the Kingdom of God.
Spring can come to all of us just like it did to the disciples, bringing us a new day, a new spirit, a newness of life, giving us the power to live the abundant life that Jesus promised. Let’s be like those disciples and carry the Good News to everyone we meet.
We will see each other in church, and bring a friend!
In Christian Love, Pastor Sandi
