“Turn in your old life for a Kingdom life.” (Matthew 3:11 MSG)
The Message phrases scripture in words I can see. This text makes me think of a dry-cleaner’s shop: turn in your dirty clothes and pick up your clean ones. Dirty clothes usually arrive in a dark plastic bag: sweaty, stained, rolled up in a ball. We hand those in and walk out with nearly new clothes: clean, pressed, hung and ready to wear.
Christ offers us a similar exchange for our souls. We hand in the old and busted life, with all it’s disappointments and scars. And He hands over a new version of us, washed fresh and clean by His love and blood. Sure, it’s a little scary to surrender, but the outcome is worth any discomfort we experience along the way.
“Enter me, then conceive a new, true life. Soak me in Your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.” (Psalm 51:6-7 MSG)
Let’s quick compare the old and new:
Old Life: sinful, selfish, ever-shrinking, empty.
New Life: righteous, God-centered, ever-expanding, full.
Lord, we want to turn in our old and busted life for a Kingdom life. Only You can was us white and transform us into the people we were always designed to be. Today we surrender again to this process. Breathe new life into us. We are Yours. Amen.