Ten Steps to Your Best Life by Brent Crowe Sample

DAY 1 - Jesus: Find a Rhythm with the Redeemer

This revolutionary idea seems to have been lost long ago, even though it has the power to transform the way we look at life: Through nature, Jesus has created a rhythm to help us live in the “beginning place” … the place where we are new creations in Christ. When God made us “a new creation,” it was such a miracle because we never have to go back to how we once were. To remind us that he is faithful to this idea that we are everyday-new-creations, he demonstrates that his mercies “are new every morning.” God puts on a beautiful light show every morning to remind us that just as the light covers the earth, so the mercies of God are new. Each glorious sunrise is an invitation to reside in his faithfulness and experience his mercy. 

The life you and I were meant to live revels in the beauty of grace, renewing our awe of God every day. For without awe and reverence for the Lord your God whose “mercies never end,” life would be senseless, lacking any understanding and meaning. To live in the beginning place doesn’t mean we don’t go anywhere; in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Living as new creations who are reminded of the never-ending mercies of God is exactly how we make our way through the brokenness of this world. 

I think the apostle Paul understood the rhythm of the sunrise, inviting each of us to live in the beginning place. Paul’s dramatic conversion experience in Acts 9 was a different kind of light show in which “a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.” From the light, he heard the voice of Jesus, and from that day forward, he never stopped following Jesus. Before Paul’s conversion, he was a man on a violent mission to prevent anyone from following Jesus. Following his conversion, he was a man fully devoted to the mission of God and the advancement of Christianity—so much so that he ended up writing almost half of the New Testament. And the word he used more than any other, during his thirty years of writing, was grace. 

In one sense, Paul got up off that dusty Damascus road and would serve Jesus for years to come. But there was a part of Paul that never left the experience of hearing the voice of Jesus that day, which is probably why he mentions grace more than one hundred times. You see, living in the beginning place—where God did the miraculous in and for you—sustains you for a life worth living in this world. 

What now?   

• Find a rhythm with Jesus. What can you do to create a functional and personalized approach to living as a new creation that understands God’s faithfulness?   
• Take a morning to watch the sunrise. From the moment the light begins to pierce the darkness until the sun is fully above the horizon, pray the following: Jesus, I am yours, and you have made me new.