We’ve Only Just Begun
Upon reading the title, depending on your age and music preferences, you may recall a song written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols in early 1970. This song was originally written for a bank television commercial, but gained a great deal of popularity later that same year when it was performed by The Carpenters as a single and included as the flip side of “Close To You”. This ultimately became one of their signature songs and catapulted them to their early musical success. Who knew how things were to progress for them as time went on?
We’ve ‘just begun’ as we have recently entered into a new year and also cannot fully know what might be in store for us. Our various situations and circumstances within a year may be altered dramatically. Our relationships, health, financial stability, and many other aspects of life are all subject to change. As we look back on our own pasts, we can realize the magnitude of these potential changes, as parts of our existence are in a constant state of flux. And, whether or not we like to admit it, none of us are exactly the same as we were just a few short years ago. Hopefully we’ve grown in stature, knowledge, and spiritually.
We have all embarked on a journey. We are all in various phases of that journey. This journey is called life. When we arrive, (are born), we don’t know the obstacles life will present, how we will handle them, or how it will all turn out. We all begin this journey the same way, physical birth. As we began life, we didn’t know much, couldn’t do much, and needed a great deal of help along the way. The ‘right direction’ needed to be given. With the passing of time, hopefully we learned, grew, and became more capable of navigating all the changes and challenges we encountered along the way.
But as ‘We’ve Only Just Begun” this year, have we considered the reason we are here on this journey called life? Many seem to live it as if this life is all there is. Have we begun a new year to repeat the things of the previous years and constantly tread the “wheel” of life like a hamster? Is there not a reason for our ‘beginning’ and our being? Of course there is. That is why from Matt. 19:16 through Jude verse 21, ‘eternal life’ is mentioned twenty-six times, and ‘everlasting life’ occurs ten times. God wants all to be able to embrace the concept and participate in the plan that brings that life. This is why in 1Cor. 15:19, the Spirit had Paul write to those brethren: If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
This is why there’s a ‘beginning’ that must occur in the physical lives of all who walk this realm to the age of accountability and desire to ‘lay hold’ on eternal life (1Tim. 6:19), and the hope set before us (Heb. 16:18). This beginning is also a birth, a spiritual birth. Jesus discussed this with Nicodemus in John 3:1-21, and made it clear that being ‘born of the flesh’ being ‘born of the spirit’ were two entirely different beginnings. Some of the ones who had participated in this new beginning, the spiritual birth, were those written to in 1Pet. 1:22-23. They had “purified your souls in obeying the truth”. They had been “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” One’s spiritual life begins only when they’ve been born again in full accordance with the Word of God.
However, just as our physical birth doesn’t guarantee how the rest of our physical life turns out, our spiritual birth doesn’t guarantee how our spiritual life continues. Physical birth is simply the beginning of our time here on earth. Spiritual birth (baptism into Christ) is the beginning of our entrance to the kingdom. What we do ‘after’ our birth is what determines the final outcome. Think about it! After our birth, the outcome of our physical life depends much upon what we do. The same applies as to how we ‘choose and do’ in our spiritual lives. We don’t have to worry about God’s part, as we are told in 2Pet. 1:3 that He “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness”.
Perhaps all “Christians” should realize that “We Have Only Just Begun”. How can this be? Some of us were ‘born again’ many years ago. Consider how we might ‘end up’ if we did nothing. Physically, we would die. The same occurs spiritually. That’s why in Phil. 2:12, the brethren, (those that have been born again), were told “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”. How? 1Tim. 4:6 tells us the child of God is “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine”. 2Cor. 4:16 tells us this is how the “inward man is renewed day by day”. And, we have the admonishment of Eph. 4:23: “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;”
In fact, the Words of Jesus Himself in Luke 9:23 indicate that each day “We Have Only Just Begun” if we are a “follower” of Him. He said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”. Have you begun? If you’ve not obeyed the gospel as is laid out in the N.T., you haven’t. Why not obey the gospel now? Then every day be renewed spiritually by His Holy Word as you prepare for eternity.
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
