New Again

by Andrew Cromwell

We’re obsessed with the new. We love new cars, new HDTVs, new phones, and new opportunities. And here we are at the beginning of the new year, and we will collectively reflect on the new changes we need in order to make our life better. We will resolve to start new habits, build new relationships (and revitalize old ones), and get new bodies (or at least try and work on the ones we are stuck in). 

Why are we so in love with the new? 

I think it is because we all know deep down inside that something is wrong about the way things get old. And I’m not talking just about old bodies, but old everything. Everything in this world over time, becomes scratched, stained, and scarred. 

Shiny new cars become oxidized, high-miled heaps. 

Bright new TVs become faded and fuzzy.

Wicked fast and beautiful cell phones become slow and cracked.

And lest we forget, young, thin bodies become old and fat. 

New love becomes tired and predictable.

Inspired dreams become broken and forgotten.

This makes us sad! And it should.

Because we were made for the new. That’s why our heart cries out for it.

At the end of time as we know it, the Apostle John tells us that Jesus will declare that He will make all things new again. It is at this moment that everything that is wrong with the world will be made right, once and for all. Jesus will bring things back into the order for which everything was originally designed.

But until that day, your and my heart still cries out for the new. We have an unshakeable knowing that things in our life can and should be better. We believe they should be new again.

At the beginning of this new year, let me encourage you not to listen to the talking heads that will make a big deal out of all the new year’s resolutions that will be broken before we get to February. Don’t listen to your family and friends that remind you of your past attempts to change. And especially don’t pay attention to your own failed history (we’ve all got one). 

Instead, reach out for the new! Hold on to hope. Start a new habit, learn a new skill, and build a new future.