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Ever have a dream where you’re running but you just can’t seem to run fast enough?

You’re giving it everything you got, but you’re sluggish and feel like you’re moving in slow-motion.

Ever had a dream where you’re fighting but you just can’t seem to punch hard enough?

You try harder, but there’s just no power to your punch…

These dreams are frustrating because you know you have more potential and power than that.

It’s actually a good thing that you’re weak and slow in your dreams—otherwise, you’d be knocking-out your spouse UFC-style while you sleep. Instead, you just twitch and groan a little (and that’s much cuter).

In real life, we don’t want to be weak and slow. We don’t want to live with untapped potential and power.

The Apostle Paul said, “I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something—not just the air.” (1 Corinthians 9.26 NCV)

Another translation says, “I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.” (NLT)

I like that…

Purpose in every step.

I fight like a boxer who is hitting something.

I don’t want to go through life frustrated—weak and slow, living with untapped potential and power.

I don’t want dream runs and punches.

I want to get somewhere.

I want to do something.

I want a sense of renewed purpose, God’s purpose for my life—mission, focus, vision, and clarity.

I want to run with purpose in every step.

http://made-new.com/

In life, our sense of purpose needs to be renewed.

I’m the father of a grade-school daughter. Some day, in the not too distant future, my daughter will grow up.

My role in her life will need to change.

My sense of purpose must constantly be refreshed and renewed.

The Bible tells a story about a beggar who was paralyzed…

He asked the disciples, Peter and John, for some money.

Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ… get up and walk!” (Acts 3.6 NLT)

Peter helped the man stand up—and he was instantly healed!

The man jumped up, walked around, started bouncing all over the place—praising God.

Then the three men walked into the Temple together.

“All of the people saw him walking and praising God. When they realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often… they were astounded!” (Acts 3.9, 10 NLT)

The Bible calls this man “the lame beggar” (which sounds kinda mean today).

His purpose was tied to his condition—he was lame (paralyzed), so he was a beggar.

When his condition changed, it was also time for his purpose to be made new.

His role was no longer survival—hoping to get enough from others so he could just barely make it.

Now he had mobility, strength, the ability to work and earn a living.

Now he could help others—those who were in the same condition he used to be in.

He was no longer the man with a “lame purpose.”

His life and his sense of purpose had been made new.

Sometimes, we make the mistake of holding on to an expired purpose—an old sense of purpose tied to our previous condition, but it just doesn’t make sense anymore… It’s a lame purpose.

And there’s no reason for that. We’ve been made new.

We’re not who we used to be anymore.

Not only are we new people, we are new people with a new sense of purpose!

http://made-new.com/

You know those times when you’ve eaten so much, you feel like you’re gonna pop?

Well, sooner than you’d think, you will need another meal.

You will always need another meal.

Food keeps you going—it’s fuel, it’s life-giving, it’s necessary.

One time, Jesus’ disciples were concerned that he missed a meal. They urged him to eat something.

Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.” (John 4.32 NLT)

The disciples were really confused now. They thought maybe someone invented a new recipe and delivered the food to Jesus (by the way, whoever invented pizza… thank you).

Jesus explained: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (John 4.34 NKJV)

In other words, living out my God-given purpose and doing what my Heavenly Father wants me to do is like eating a meal: it’s fuel, it’s life-giving, it’s necessary.

And just like I will always need another meal, I also need a renewed sense of my God-given purpose.

Same goes for you—you need another meal, a renewed sense of purpose for today.

http://made-new.com/

I can predict what my daughter will say when she gets home from school…

“What are we doing today, Daddy?”

In fact, she repeats variations of this question multiple times throughout the day.

“What are we doing tonight?”

“Are we doing anything?”

“Are we going anywhere?”

“What’s for dinner?”

She’s looking for the plan. She wants to know what’s on the agenda…

Because her life is tied to ours—where we go, she goes; our plans are her plans.

This reminds me of a verse in the Bible:

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” (Romans 8.15 MSG)

Our life is tied to His—where He goes, we go; His plans are our plans.

Are you asking Him, “What are we doing today, Daddy?”

“What’s next, Papa?”

Go ahead, ask.

Repeatedly.

Be adventurously expectant.

http://made-new.com/

1. Everybody’s Welcome

Jesus welcomed, loved, accepted, embraced, and included anyone who came to him. It didn’t matter—fishermen, prostitutes, outcasts, tax collectors, lepers, or sinners. We follow Jesus’ example; we welcome everybody.

2. Nobody’s Perfect

Jesus helped us understand that we’re all equally in need of his forgiveness. Because of this, there is no use for any sense of spiritual superiority. There’s no need for posturing, posing, reputation-building, or trying to impress anyone. There’s also no need to hide. We are all sinners, saved and living by grace. We know it’s true: nobody’s perfect.

3. Anything’s Possible

Jesus chose people like Peter, who was inconsistent, unpredictable, and shaky in his faith. Peter the unstable one became Peter the rock. God transforms people—he makes us new. We believe that with God, anything’s possible. We see others, not for who they are, but for who they are becoming through Christ. In Him, anything’s possible!

http://made-new.com/

While on vacation during Spring Break, my daughter and I watched the classic 80’s movie, The Princess Bride.

It’s one of those oft-quoted films, and it has quite the characters…

Vizzini, the ever-scheming bandit ring-leader, is one of those quotable characters.

For example:

“Am I going mad, or did the word THINK escape your lips? You were not hired for your brains, you hippopotamic land mass.”

Here’s another:

“It would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable.”

Vizzini didn’t believe it was possible for them to be followed or conquered—and he was dead wrong.

Vizzini’s “inconceivable” line reminds me of another character… Nicodemus.

Nicodemus isn’t from The Princess Bride—he’s from the Bible.

One day, while conversing with Jesus, he hears something that blows his mind: “You must be born again.”

Nicodemus incredulously responds, “What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again? How is this possible?”

He was basically quoting Vizzini, “It would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable.”

But Jesus was’t talking about a physical re-birth, he was talking about a spiritual re-birth.

Being born again is another way of saying “being made new”.

Just like Nicodemus, we must be born again—we must be made new.

Sound impossible? Absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable?

“Who in the world can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”
(Luke 18.26, 27 NLT)

Anything’s possible.

http://made-new.com/

This post is written by Jon Acuff (author of Stuff Christians Like) and can be found on his blog:

http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2009/12/struggling-with-new/

At our last trip to Tybee Island, Georgia, I was in charge of building a sea creature corral. We made a shallow hole and filled it with as many interesting animals as we could find. Starfish, hermit crabs, seashells, we made our own mini aquarium next to our chairs. I even caught a big crab by sneaking up on it from behind with my cat like reflexes.

But then it died.

In the midst of watching this oceanic wonderland, the crab stopped moving. I picked it up. It’s little crab eyes were cloudy, it’s legs hung limp and when I placed it upside down on it’s back it stayed there without a flicker of life in it.
We stopped thinking about it and continued playing on the beach, but then something weird happened.
The crab started molting.

What I mistook as death was actually new life. Inch by inch, it’s shell started coming off like a winter coat. The crazy thing was that it didn’t just grow a new shell. I knew they shed that top shell, but the crab actually grew a completely new body. It’s legs, it’s antennae, every part of it come off in one completely empty replica of the crab. It wasn’t just the shell, this whole crab was brand new.

I always thought the big stuff would change, the shell itself, but it surprised me to see how complete and utter the transformation of that crab was. At the end of 30 minutes, it looked like there were two complete crabs on the beach. One soft and new and beating with the blood of fresh life. One a hollow, slightly smaller shell.

Watching this little crab grow completely challenged my understanding of what it means to become new. That crab wasn’t just improved. It wasn’t given a new shell but the same old legs to carry it around with. The whole thing was new. And I think that’s how God works in our lives too.

I’ve talked before about struggling with porn for 18 years or so. In the summer of 2005, I really confronted that issue. I ended up spending three years as part of a men’s group at First Baptist Woodstock that deals with that. And it was an incredible period of renewal and a season where my relationship with God went 3D.

But sometimes, I look back on that and I forget I’m new. I don’t believe the truth about God’s transformative nature. I think in 2009, I’m not “new Jon,” I’m just “old Jon minus porn.” I’m just a better version of the me I’ve always been. But that’s not true.

And it’s not true for you either.

We, as people, are capable of self improvement. We love the idea that the things we do in our lives can make us better. We can learn and grow and change. That’s why self help books sell so well. But God isn’t in the business of self improvement, he’s in the business of new.

That’s why 2 Corinthians 5:17 is a verse I will continue to write about:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

How powerful is that last section? There are two grenades in there. The first is that the old has gone. It’s not just that the old has been replaced or that the old has been shoved into a closet and if things get tense again and you feel stressed you’re going to put it back on and become the person that hurt so many people in the middle of your divorce or got fired or abandoned your kids while you selfishly tried to “reclaim your youth.” That person? That shell? That’s gone. The second grenade is that in it’s place, the new has come! The new, not the better, the new!

You might look dead at some point in your journey just like that crab. I can’t imagine molting is a pleasant experience. The summer of 2005 was the worst season of my entire life as I became new. But new life was on the other side. That’s what’s waiting.

New life.

As I’ve said before, and I’ll say again:

Death to better, long live new.

http://made-new.com/

In every part of life, we get what is possible, what’s expected, what’s deserved.

We live by cause and effect.

We get what we paid for.

We make our bed, and now we have to lie in it.

And then comes the divine interruption…

Because of Him, because of the cross, because of His death, because of His resurrection, because of His victory—anything’s possible!

My friend Shawn Seeley was blown up in Iraq.

His Humvee landed on him.

His heart stopped en route to Germany.

He died.

That’s what is supposed to happen.

When a bomb blows up under you—you’re supposed to be dead.

When an Army Hummer lands on you—you die…

But with Jesus, anything’s possible.

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” (Ephesians 3.20 MSG)

God can do anything.

Cause and effect, interrupted.

PS – Shawn is alive. He didn’t stay dead. He made it home. He healed. And today he’s a new man. He has a new life, a new career (he’s a pastor on staff at Fairwood Church with me). Anything’s possible.

http://made-new.com/

Made new
A second chance
Alive again

Clouds lifted
Depression gone
Joy rises

Debts paid
Freedom purchased
Stain erased

Life eternal
Destiny secured
Peace reigns

Hurts healed
Addictions broken
Dignity restored

A fresh vision
Purpose known
Strength found
Supply given

Prodigals have come home
We’re all His sons & daughters
The King’s kids

Yes, His grace covers…

Anything’s possible.

http://made-new.com/

I have all the strength and supply I need.

I am well-rested.

I have peace.

I’m headed in the right direction.

Even when the way is clouded-over, dark, threatening, and depressing—I am not afraid of anything.

I am protected.

I am comforted.

I am well-fed.

I am honored and blessed—both in front of my friends and my haters.

Undeserved reward and unconditional love follow me everywhere I go.

I am secure in my place—I am home. This is where I belong.

All of this is not because of me. It’s all because of Him…

My God, my shepherd.

(Paraphrasing Psalm 23)

http://made-new.com/