[405 words]
Of all the seasons, I think I enjoy watching springtime come more than any of the others. After the long slumber of gloomy winter, it’s so wonderful seeing the earth awaken with the grass greening, trees budding, flowers blooming, busy birds flitting about, etc. Truly, spring is a time of rebirth, renewal, and refreshing.
I think it is interesting that when we look at the way the Holy Spirit through His word describes the Christian existence, it seems to be in springtime-like terms.
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).
In our existence as children of God, every day can be a springtime day in our hearts, no matter what the weather, time of year, or circumstances.
I think it’s also interesting that when God saw fit to have heaven described, it appears as a lush, well-watered springtime-like existence.
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21:1).
“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal…and on either side of the river, was the tree of life…The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:1-2).
“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7).
Heaven is not like the dead and cold of winter, nor like the burning heat of summer, and not even like the short-lived color of autumn. But rather, it is the refreshing renewal of spring – eternally.
Enjoy this spring as it bursts open before us in living color, sweet scents, and soothing sounds. But also let it remind you of the eternal spring that God has planned for us in heaven!
“But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).
Edd Sterchi
Broadway church of Christ
Campbellsville, KY