"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." -- II Corinthians 5:17
Autumn is my favorite time of the year. Some of my favorite memories revolve around the fall of the year and growing up in the hills of eastern Tennessee. The trees in the Great Smokey Mountain region are some of the most colorful in our nation. I grew up on a farm that was predominantly woodlands. Hardwoods of every sort would display their brightest colors as the days grew shorter before the cold days of winter arrived. The beautiful shades of green were exchanged for the most brilliant hues of red, yellow and purple that one could ever imagine. After a short season of spectacular color the leaves would turn brown, die and eventually fall off the tree. The frosts would come, the snows would fall and the inevitable cold biting winds would blow leaving the trees barren and exposed for a period of months as the dead leaves fell to the ground. But "all" the dead leaves would never fall off. There always seem to be on every tree a few stubborn leaves that would hang on even after nature's best effort to free them. But after the dead of winter passed, the springtime with its length of days and the warm sunshine would cause new life to bud forth from the tree. It was only when the new life came through the branches and produced a new leaf that the "old leaves" would fall away.
God has given us a wonderful insight into the Spirit filled life through the changing seasons of year. When we are drawn to Jesus Christ and are saved, a change takes place, "...old things have passed away; behold all things have become new." (II Corinthians 5:17) The new life in Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit who comes to take up residence in our life when we are saved. He longs to control every aspect of our lives and to produce the kind of spiritual fruit that pleases Him. But we all bring baggage (dead leaves from another season) with us from our old life. Traits, thought patterns, and habits from the old life that it seems no matter how hard we try to leave them behind, they hang on like old dead leaves. It is only when we are filled with God's Spirit that the new life fills every area of our lives. When that happens the old deadness loses its grip and falls away. Have you "tried everything" to get rid of old traits, thought patterns and habits, but they just keep hanging around? Let God's Word and Spirit fill "every" area of your life. When He has filled you to overflowing the old life will fall by the wayside!
