A NEW LIFE THAT CHANGES

A NEW LIFE THAT CHANGES

Romans 6:4 "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

I have lived for more years than I ever imagined possible. I remember looking at people my age a long time ago and opening the doors for them. I remember people my age now, living on without hope and direction. I remember looking at people my age and wondering what life would be like when I got to be their age. I remember people my age not having much of a life, but living day by day with no hope of tomorrow or no desire to go on with anything worthwhile, or even with anything worth living for. I remember looking at people my age when I was younger and wondering if my life was going to be like that, or if it would be different. I'm not sure when I decided, but at some point I decided that my life was going to be different. I decided that I wanted to touch people's lives in one way or the other. I decided that things would be different and that I would try to accomplish a little more than they did.

Those were high hopes for a young boy. Those were strong desires for someone who looked at all that was around him and saw obstacles all around him that would have kept him from accomplishing what seemed like the impossible. But my desire to be different did not happen overnight. For as I saw my life, I saw myself ending up the same as those who I said I would never be like. But something happened that changed my direction and my attitude. It happened 36 years ago. I became a new creation of God when I looked at the cross and reconciled my life with God the Creator. Paul spoke of that new life when he wrote: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." I do what I do today not because of me, but because of Him who gave me a new life with a new hope with a new direction.

Robert Soto, Lipan Apache and pastor