Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Everything old is new ... err.... still old

We know from Ecclesiastes (v 1:9) that "there is no new thing under the sun". And yet the concept of new-ness is mentioned in several places.
The verse I would like to mention today is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17
- Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.

Can you imagine - God, through Samuel, has said there is no new thing under the sun - and yet, we can be a new creature in Christ!

If you have ever labored to rebel against your own sinful nature - to choose ONLY those tasks and thoughts that are aligned with God's will for your life - you will inevitably find yourself struggling. If you do it long enough and you will feel old ... worn out ... aged. I imagine, on some level, Samuel felt the same thing. He had done every good and grand thing he could think of and so basically stated "yup - not only have I been there and done that, but nobody is doing anything truly new." The gravity of this loss - this fundamental self-awareness - of our fundamental inability to make new things or think truly new thoughts can be crushing.

And yet, we can be new creatures in Christ! We can choose, this day, this hour, this moment - to do something truly new!

This is the one thing Satan can never deliver. No matter how tempting that apple, no matter how alluring the drugs, and no matter how opportune that decision seems to be - it all leads down exactly the same road. There are different facets to the road, but it is a very, very old road.

Christ has a better road. It is so new, in fact, that most of us have a fundamental inability to even perceive it!

But it is there. Christ has built it. And he wants to walk it with you.

Will you join Him?

1 comment:

Steve said...

Good stuff, Jason.
You wrote this before the Ecclesiastes sermon, I noticed!

If I were argumentative tonight, I'd differ with your "you can choose," based on John 6:44. That's not saying we don't have to come to Jesus; just that we can't choose all on our own to do so. That's part of fighting the sinful nature, too.

Cheers!