Old Man Buried

With harvest time upon us again I was reminded the other day of a story a friend of mine told me once. He and his wife are retired and they were babysitting their neighbor’s little boy that was four years old. When he went out to dig up his potatoes one day in his garden he took the little boy along with him to help. After they had dug up about ten or so the little boy looked up at him and asked, “Mr. Harold, what did you bury these for?” Good question for a four year old that was not there when Mr. Harold planted them. The little fellow had no idea that under the soil was a wealth of mashed potatoes, French fries, and potato casseroles.

The Apostle Paul told the folk in Colosse; *"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Given the story about the potatoes you can now understand what Paul means. When you and I submitted our lives to Christ the old us was crucified with Him, buried, and we have been raised to live a new life. That is why Jesus called it “born again.” We are buried in Christ and our past is hidden from the eyes of God. When the Father looks upon us today He does not see the same person He saw before Jesus presented us to Him as being redeemed. The moment we surrendered our life to Jesus we became hidden in Him. We dig up the old stuff once in a while only to be confronted by the Holy Spirit and reminded that we buried it and we need to leave it buried. Many times others who knew us before we were born again will dig up some of the old stuff, knock the dirt off it, and try to put it back on us. At those times we just remind them that although we cannot change who we were, Jesus has changed who we are. One day we will be seen by God when we appear in His presence with Jesus! Jesus will come back to get all of those who are His and take us to the Father. For now we are to continue to live our lives like those potatoes; growing out of sight waiting to be harvested!

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus to die for my sins that I may be crucified with Him. I look forward to the day when I shall see You, and You shall see me; with Him! Thanks Jesus for what You did and for allowing me to go to the Father in You! Amen.

In Christ: Br Mike <><

*The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Col 3:3-4). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.