Jeanne and I have lived in our house for about 30 years and the condition of our front yard has progressively gotten worse until it was essentially clay and rocks.  Every fall I would go out and rake the astro-dirt and I tried to mulch it but it was basically an unsightly brown slope.  This past spring Jeanne and I decided to tackle the yard.  The spouse of one of my student’s gave us a landscaping plan and I dug about 130 holes in the rock-hard clay and we planted a wide array of bushes and plants.  We diligently watered them all summer (it’s amazing how expensive water is) and they survived their first South Carolina summer.

I’ve had some thoughtful neighbors offer encouragement as they would drive by and say how nice the yard looked but the climax came when an officer of the civic association stopped by and presented us with the curb appeal award for the neighborhood!  In my case it should be most improved.  If people take notice of your yard then how much more will they notice your character!

Do you realize the dramatic the change that occurs when Christ comes into a life?  You are born from above and God’s Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you!  Paul wrote to the Roman Christians,

“But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness”  (6:17-18).

Imagine that – being freed from sin!  You may think that you are too far gone for God to fix up your old life.  God doesn’t fix up the old life – He crucifies it!  He gives you new life – and the change is amazing – you have everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)!  Now our task is learning how to walk in the light of our new, true identity.

What a dramatic change!  Jesus came that you might have life and have it more abundantly!  May that abundant life be evident in your life!