January 7, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Tuesday, January 7.
The holidays are over, but the biggest part of winter is still to come. Texas winters are unpredictable. You’re never sure what you’re gonna get. It could be three months of mild weather, with no hard freezes, or it could include a week like we had in 2021, with ice and snow and single-digit temps. You just never know about a Texas winter.
Texas summers, on the other hand, are entirely predictable. You can bet the farm that it’s going to be . . . HOT! The only question is how hot - how many triple-digit days there will be. I grew up in Houston where it’s not just hot during the summer, it’s sticky, too. If you do any kind of work outside, you come back in drenched in sweat. And the first thing you want to do is to shed those dirty, grimy clothes, jump in the shower, and get clean. Well, here’s where my scenario takes a turn. What if, after taking that cool, cleansing shower, you put back on those dirty, grimy clothes. Ridiculous, right? No one would ever do something like that.
Well, God knows that spiritually speaking, we’re tempted to do just that. He offers us a cleansing from the stain of our sin. His grace gives us a refreshing new start. And then, so often, we turn and put back on those dirty, old clothes. Clothes of envy and resentment and bitterness. Garments of gossip and anger and shame. Ridiculous, right?
We find these words in Ephesians 4 - “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”.
Good words for a new year.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
