By Pastor Jeff Wade, The Rock of Panama City Beach
Who doesn’t love new stuff!?!? Christmas was just a few weeks ago and everyone was excited about the new things they got. For some it was new clothes, new toys, new jewelry, a new bike or maybe you were even fortunate enough to get the new car you always wanted for Christmas.
I still remember my first new car. Not a ‘new to me car’ but my first off the dealership lot, never been driven, car. I can still remember that ‘new car smell.’ You know… that good smell of a brand new vehicle. There isn’t anything like it! Everything was pristine. The motor was shiny. The carpet was clean. The tires were new. But here’s the thing…
If you have ever purchased a new car, you also know that the value of that car dropped significantly the moment you drove it off the lot. You also quickly realize that that new car smell eventually goes away too. (Especially if you have kids!) It doesn’t take long for Kool-Aid or chocolate milk to eventually stain the carpet. Perhaps a French fry dipped in ketchup finds its way between the seats. No matter what, what was new eventually gets old. The motor that was shiny gets coated with oil and debris. Nothing that is temporary stays new forever. Everything eventually ages, gets stained, broken, tattered and torn. I suppose it would be fair to say that everything new I have received has eventually lost value. I would also like to subjectively suggest that this goes for New Years as well. Not that good things don’t happen each year but let’s be honest with each other. Most years don’t turn out the way we want them to, right? How many were hoping that 2021 would turn out differently than it did?
There are a couple of verses that come to mind that I would like to share with you today.
Isaiah 43:18-19 says: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a NEW thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers, and deserts.”
In this passage, rivers, wilderness, and deserts represent both physical barriers as well as metaphorical barriers that we face. The instruction here is that when we are stuck on what once was new but has gotten old, it will be difficult to see or comprehend what the Lord is doing in our lives. The verse I would like to pair with this one is:
Ephesians 4:22-24 and it speaks to what I mentioned about temporary things. “To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through its deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirits of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
And there you have it. We are to be made new by receiving Jesus Christ, remembering not the things we once were (for we were temporary) and to be made eternal through salvation, for God wants to do a NEW THING in you.
If you would like to receive new life In His name, I would love to meet you and talk to you!
