Today's encouragement comes from the familiar and lovely words of 2 Corin-thians 5:17, which say this:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have pass-ed away; behold, all things have become new."Newness is a good thing. For the regenerate Christian churchman, all past sins are forgiven—covered by the blood of Jesus; and the present and the fu-ture is brighter (than the past). People outside of Jesus also want "newness," and seek it all the time. But they remain in their "ancient" sins: the sin they shared in Adam; and the sins they have committed along the paths of their lives.
True Christians may need to suffer more than most people; but we also have a surpassing glory that more than compensates for it: and that is our blessed life in Jesus. Let us love Him today; and enjoy Him.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Happiness and rest are what all men pursue. But the things of the world, wherein most men seek it, can never give it. They are laboring and spending themselves in vain.” —Jonathan Edwards, in his ser-mon entitled, "The Peace which Christ Gives . . . "]