‘Old life’ RESOLVED (Luke 15:18) : ‘New Life’ REALISED (Romans 12:1-2) : the story of human life, from the ‘in-side-out’

If you are “STUCK” somewhere in life! If you have that “SINKING” feeling! If you think you are “LOST”! Then, you are in a “BAD” place / in a CRISIS zone. So, what can you do?

Jesus tells us (& teaches us an important lesson) about someone who tried to ‘make his / her own life’ &, like all human plans, God laughed & everything went wrong.

I’m referencing, here, the story of the ‘prodigal son / daughter’. This person – after much suffering, pain & misery – looked around & began to take the bigger picture into account & to review the context & content of his / her life.

Somehow, he / she had “grasped” at a ‘honey-pot’ & ended up in a ‘hell-hole’: (see Editorial 9/11/’13). The ‘self’ had become caught-up in ‘self’ &, as PROBLEMS emerged (i.e. life’s normal quota of trials, troubles & tribulations) there was nobody around to offer help.

As the story goes, the ‘prodigal son / daughter’ was ‘graced’ with a “wake up” experience: he / she “came to their senses” & decided: “I will break away and return to my Father” (Luke 15:18). This is how ‘old life’ issues get resolved.

Note: the real ‘Father’ figure in our lives is “God, the Father”, who, even Jesus ‘looked-up-to’ throughout His human / divine life, here on earth. WE ARE meant to follow Jesus’s example, too – as per the “Our Father” prayer.

Now: what is this about ‘new life’? Well, there is plenty of “good news” on this vital subject. It is, in fact, the story of Jesus’s own life. He came to deliver a ‘one & only’ SOLUTION i.e. Himself. He said: “ I have come that you may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

However, in this presentation (as an add-on to what is already set out on this website) I am focusing only on the first two paragraphs of Romans 12:

“My brothers & sisters, I implore you, by God’s mercy to offer your very selves to him: a living sacrifice”. You are to ‘sacrifice’ your own ‘self’ i.e. you are to “hand-over” your ‘self-for-self’ ‘mode of living’ (i.e. your ‘old life style’) to Jesus, the Christ.

“Adapt your selves no longer to the pattern of this present world, but let your minds be remade & your whole nature thus transformed. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, & to know what is good, acceptable & perfect”. Here,you switch your ‘central focus in life’ from the ‘horizontal’ (worldly affairs) to the ‘vertical’ (heavenly affairs).

Note: your mind is your ‘sat nav’ (i.e. your inbuilt ‘satellite navigation’ system) & it takes you, unerringly, to where ever (destination) you set, via your ‘thinking’ (i.e. ‘programming’).

Note, also: changing the ‘direction’ of your life (simply: ‘in this manner’) will radically change your whole way of living, as you will, automatically, be ‘tuned into’ the “good life”.