Freshness from the Lord

There is an old saying “Fresh is the best” and that is so true, however, today with the aid of chemicals food is made to look and taste fresh so that they can have a longer shelf life. While it is claimed that these chemicals do not harm us it would not surprise us if these chemicals do have a long term effect on us. People who play sports professionally, while they train hard regularly, have a special program to freshen up physically and mentally before they compete. If this is required in the natural how much more it is essential to have this in our daily Christian experience. While it is good to remember the good things that the Lord has done in the past, those memories are no substitute for a daily relationship with the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-23 says: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His mercies fail not. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness “. NLT “His mercies begin afresh each day”. The word ‘new’ could also be translated as fresh. It is good to realise that it is our choice that we can start each day with a fresh experience with the Lord and this freshness is available to us all the time – so it is a good habit to experience that freshness each day. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says: Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day”. We cannot overemphasise the importance of freshness in our Christian living because the only thing that we can offer other people that will help them is the freshness of our relationship with the Lord. In the Tabernacle of Moses, the priests had to daily supply fresh olive oil to keep the lamps burning. When the Children of Israel were in the wilderness they were given Mana daily to eat – yesterdays Mana went rotten. This is a warning to us not to rely on what we know or have experienced in the past but on the freshness of a daily encounter with the Lord. The Psalmist says in Psalm 92:10  “I have been anointed with fresh oil”. In these days of business it important to learn to slow down and pause and spend time with the Lord so that the people around can be affected with the freshness of the Lord on our lives.  Acts 3:19 says: “Repent and be converted, that the times of refreshing may come from the hand of the Lord”. Now is the time to experience the freshness that only comes from the Lord.