Keep the New in View
How many times did you hear the words “Happy New Year” this past week? Most likely more than a few times. It is part of our annual tradition of ringing in a New Year and there is always something enticing about new things: new opportunities, new friends, new energy, new experiences, new blessings, a new year. The word “new” is often used to highlight things that are fresh, updated, or improved. It is used by marketers to bait us into wanting things that are “new and improved.”
God uses the word “new” and its derivatives to teach and motivate us about the best and ultimate kind of new which never needs an update or improvement, but only a regular application of its fresh dynamic in our lives.
Take a moment and remind yourself of the new things our Savior blesses us with now and forever:
Isaiah 40:31: “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”
Lamentations 3:22–23: “The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, for His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
John 13:34–35: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”
Romans 6:4: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.”
Romans 7:6: “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
1 Corinthians 11:25: “In the same way He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”
2 Corinthians 3:5–6: “Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (See also Jeremiah 31:31; Ezekiel 11:19, 18:31, 36:26; Heb. 8:13, 9:15)
2 Corinthians 4:16: “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day.”
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (See also Galatians 6:15)
Ephesians 2:14–15: “ For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace.”
Ephesians 4:22–24: “In reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” (see also Colossians 3:10)
Hebrews 10:19–20: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh.”
2 Peter 3:13: “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (See also Isaiah 65:17, 66:22; Revelation 21:1)
Revelation 5:9: “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God with Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation.’”
Revelation 21:2–3: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”
Revelation 21:5: “And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’”
Since we all need the Lord’s help, here’s a good prayer to pray throughout this new year: “Create in me a clean heart, God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
Let’s strive to keep the new in view as we live out God’s eternal gift of newness of life in this new year!
Pastor Jeff
“One reason the church of God has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church. ”