What's "the New Normal" for Christians?

It's called "the new normal" - life during this pandemic.  And when the stay-at-home order is lifted and everyone starts venturing out, then we'll have a "new, new normal."  

And although "new normal" is a fitting phrase, I don't like it, because it implies something "not so good" - something that I'm going to have to adjust to. 

So I've been thinking about another "new normal" - the one that matters to me.

For the Christian the "new normal" actually began in the Garden of Eden.  It began when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, broke their relationship with Him, and were thrown out of the garden.  But here's the thing, God promised them that One would be born who would restore that relationship and fix everything, fix what sin, Satan, and death had taken away.  

All throughout the Old Testament, God's people lived this "new normal" - looking for and waiting for the Messiah, the One who would restore their relationship with their God.  It was reiterated to Abraham and spoken of by the prophets.  It was on their minds, and the people were reminded of it in how they lived and especially in their many sacrifices.  Until...

...when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  Galatians 4:4-5

Another "new normal" - a better one.  With the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, the kingdom of God had come to earth!  And the realization and the significance of this "new normal" first became clear when Jesus's empty tomb was discovered and then later with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

And that's the Christian's "new normal" - a treasure that was given to each one of us when we were baptized and given faith.  It's a "new normal" of forgiveness of sin, of receiving the Holy Spirit, of faith and hope in salvation and eternal life. 

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:3-5

And when this pandemic is dying away, when people are out working again, shopping, socializing, no matter how weird or difficult it may be, I'm praying that my "new normal" will be to "walk in newness of life" and to know that the "new normal" of being a Christian surpasses every other "new normal" and every situation I face.  

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  John 4:13-14