New

New

Do you have an insatiable need for something new?  I think this is a universal human desire. We want a little bit more or newer. Why? Perhaps to keep up with neighbors or competitors or to make us feel better about ourselves is our goal?  These needs will never be met with worldly goods or relationships.

 God is doing something new. “Forget the former things; do not dwell in the past. See I am doing something new! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert, and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19). In Spring I was looking out the window of my study at flowering crab apple trees, white, pink and coral. The scent of blossoms was overwhelmingly beautiful. After months of “Polar Vortex” and snow, God was bringing a new spring. It was bringing new life to the world. Warmth was slowly replacing the frigid and frozen tundra of the Upper Midwest.  These spring things may be temporary, but God’s newness is not.

“Because of God’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail, they are new every morning, great is his faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:21). Prophet Jeremiah, the writer of this verse, bringing it after sharing overwhelming senses of loss from the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple and exile of Judah’s inhabitants in BC 586. It is a Lament. Yet within the lament comes this encouraging verse of God’s faithfulness. Jeremiah writes, “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait patiently for the Lord.” (Lam 3:24-25).

I don’t know about you, but I am encouraged by these words. Psalm 40:3 says well my thinking, “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.”  When we are looking for something new; a new job, marriage, church, life, where are we looking? Are we looking in stores, or bars? In Spring I am looking to God and his creation. I want to sing a new song, a song of praise, light instead of darkness, rain instead of snow. Scripture talks in Ephesians 4:24 about putting on a new self, clothing ourselves in something new, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. God has given us a new life, a new covenant.  In fact he has given us a new command, to love one another as he has loved us.  Let him do something new this morning.

As Spring replaces winter, are you in need of a new life?  That life is in the Son of God and His promises. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJ). The concept of being “in Christ” speaks of receiving him as Lord and Savior, Him in us and us in Him. We are forever changed, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23 NIV). We have eternal life in Christ Jesus and will be forever in His presence in His light, not darkness. Are you a new creation? Make your decision today.