GodReflection: Power Words

A picture of steaming coffee is inadequate to communicate its freshness. No colorful depiction can describe the aroma and the taste of a fresh cup of java. The one in my hand at the moment—now that communicates fresh.

Never before had fresh crossed my mind as a power word.

To remain fresh is a human ordeal rather than a challenge for God. I serve a God who is the fountain of renewal.

Adam’s sin left me to decay. The world is running down like a clock. My body follows suit. God is always fresh and new. I am not. The secret to freshness is in the awareness of God’s spirit living within.

I want to live the description of the Psalmist who penned Psalms 92. Its purpose was to celebrate rest on the Sabbath. It was a rest to generate freshness:

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.  They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”  

I am responsible to stay fresh and green before the Lord.

The last thing I desire is to project a stale and dried out God totally opposite of His nature. He is the God who is new every morning.

When I make God routine and expect others to follow my lead, am I not creating a barrier between a fresh God and those who so desperately need His presence? Why would someone seek a stale and out of touch God?

God forgive me if at anytime I become stale and cause others to misperceive my God as incapable of renewal.

We humans fall in love with what we know. Seldom do we stray from our established route to work in hope of seeing what’s new on another route. We are pretty much meat and potatoes people. There is not a lot of experimentation with the new.

I run the risk of a lack of expectation with the holy. When all seems to be going well, why would I unset the ordinary to see if God will show up? There is risk in fresh living.

There is not a run on the stock of tradition. No one is buying-in—not even Jesus. The only stockholders are those who spent a lifetime purchasing tradition stock.

Sure, there are good and valid traditions. However, when they hide the freshness of the good news of Jesus, it’s time to change.

Here is how I want fresh to become a word of power in my life:

I want to live in expectation of the daily acts of Father, Son, and, Spirit. In the process, I want to become a better listener to the holy and a more accurate student of Scripture.

I want to be open to new and fresh ways of worship and relationship with the Godhead.  I don’t want erroneous traditions, not tied securely to Scripture, to bind me in a manner that causes me to hide Jesus from others. That is a stock to remove from my portfolio.

I want to complete life as a fresh creation, recreated in the image of God. I want to stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on Fresh as a Power Word.

Gary@GodReflection.org