During the Christmas Break we had a warm spell that lasted for a couple of days where I live.  Prior to this reprieve from the cold, what I didn’t know was that my downspout leading from my garage had clogged full of leaves (apparently good home owners check this during the fall) and had slowed the flow of water.  As the weather got colder, the backlog of water froze in my eaves.

When the warm spell rolled through, this ice began to melt and the excess water started spilling over the edge and running down the wall of my house.  This, I noticed.  So on one of my days off I hacked out the remaining ice in the eaves and waited for the downspout to melt out so that I could unclog it.  It did and then I did, giving me (and my eaves) a nice fresh start for this cold front that has emerged in the early weeks of January.

It was a nice metaphor for me I think, to spend some time contemplating the freshness of a new year - a new start.  Coupled with some previous thoughts on the beauty that is God’s grace, I’ve had a few thoughts emerge lately.

God’s grace sets us free in the sense we are forgiven, but that doesn’t mean we don’t carry the consequences of our previous actions.  Growing and learning from our mistakes is essential but doesn’t always let us completely start over.  Grace is not a reset button - consequences sometimes are not erased.

Given that, while we are not who we once were (Paul writes “you were this way but now you are like this” [Eph 5:8; 1 Cor 6:9-11])  there are some things we inevitably will have to carry forward as a result of our choices and actions.

All the more reason that we ought to be careful how we live in the present.  Just because we are in Christ and know that forgiveness is ours, doesn’t mean we ought to live recklessly, cutting corners (even for the sake of the kingdom).

On the one hand we are being observed by others, as we are to be a living example of what God is doing.  On the other hand, we are not people who are given a special armour of protection that makes us immune to consequence.  The call is to be more like Jesus - that we would be holy as He is holy [1 Peter 1:15]

I’m not sure where you are at today - maybe you’re in the midst of a warm spell, allowing you to un-clutter your life of the things that you have let build up.  Be refreshed knowing that Christ does indeed set you free, but go forward knowing that freedom has responsibility attached to it - a responsibility to continue to pursue Jesus in all aspects of life.