All things new

The rush of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are over. The deadlines of finishing work projects, gift-preparation and gift-giving, making last-minute tax deductible arrangements, cooking the feasts—all in the past. The guests have gone home, the decorations have been removed, and your waistline is back at last January’s measurement, when you did your previous crash course in power-walking and dieting. 

Maybe the last year sucked for you. Or even the last two or three. The economy tanked, a loved one died, a relationship or marriage broke up. You're waiting for the country song to be played backward so you can get back to the life that seemed to have an upward direction.

 The daylight lasts a few minutes longer now. It’s time to paint the kitchen, rearrange the garage or attic, prune the rose canes, approve the budget at work or church or home, start a new school term… Renewal time. Start over. 

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. Matthew 9:35-36 NIV.

Think of that! Jesus renewed all the towns and villages by healing every disease and sickness, and showing His compassion. He made every diabetic and cancer sufferer free from disease (and the painful treatments). He gave sight to the blind and even the presbyopics! He turned the asthmatics into distance runners. He took those afflicted by demons and mental illness, and let their human spirits soar free and unafraid. He made the handicapped into dancers, and those disfigured by skin disease had bodies as fresh as the day they were born. He preached the good news that the kingdom’s gates were open to all whom God loves.

Renewal is one of the greatest gifts the Lord gives us. When He forgives our sins, He doesn’t file them so He can drag them out and zap us with guilt the next time we mess up. He throws them away in an inaccessible place, and He forgets them. That is truly a miracle, because I remember my sins, and Satan certainly brings them up again and again. But God declares that my sins are forgiven and that He has wiped them from my account. Gone. Poof!

“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people…And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” Jeremiah 31:33-34 NLT.

How we love the Lord for forgiving and forgetting! That’s where we find healing and renewal: in the knowledge that Jesus has paid the penalty for our rebellion, and that He remembers our sins no more. He said that even if a mother could forget the infant at her breast, God could not forget us, His beloved, because He has engraved us on the palms of His hands—the nail prints. (Isaiah 49:15-16)

 In this new year, come back to Jesus. Ask Him deep in your heart, where He’ll write His will for you: that you be buried in Him, and Him in you, forever.

          And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5 NLT.

          All things—new. What a promise. It’s trustworthy and true. 

In Conclusion

The phrase that is guaranteed to wake up an audience: “And in conclusion...”

It's New Year’s Eve. Today’s news will carry summaries of the big stories of this year, and tomorrow’s will be about the first children born in the new year. You may rush to donate to your church or charity before the year’s tax-deduction books close. Perhaps you’ll finish off the Christmas sweets today, knowing that the diet resumes tomorrow.

I asked Facebook friends what their biggest stories of the year were. Some answered natural disasters, some getting fired or laid off from a job, some said the terrible economy or which party won the elections, and one said that her husband's life is now measured in days. I think one of the best things in a difficult year was meeting new people, including relatives, and laughing with--or at--friends in Facebook. I like the "If you can't beat it, laugh at it" attitude, which gives energy to push through and prevail after all.

The New Year holiday is significant. It’s the day when people remember one year and look forward to a clean start in the next. The Roman god Janus, after whom January was named, was the god of gates and doorways, depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. It's interesting that the apostle James spoke of the double-minded man as being unstable (James 1:8). There's really only one way to face what's handed to us in this world: forward, head-on. No turning back.

Jesus, who is our true Door and Gate, said, "I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture." John 10:9 CEV 

Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV says: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

That's not to say that we should forget our experiences or the ways in which we grew. No, that’s why God gave us reason and wisdom, the application of knowledge. He wants us to forget and forgive ungodly actions and imperfect human ways, and look forward with joyful anticipation to the work He wants to do in us, and through us to humanity. Don’t dwell in past glories or miseries—walk by faith into the future.

The future springs up: could it be a spring of fresh water bubbling up through gravel, or the tension in a metal spiral spring? Either way, there’s irrepressible energy coming to you from God.

What new thing will God do in you in the coming year? What gift has He given you that He’s eagerly waiting to unwrap and set before you? Don’t wait for tomorrow—accept it today!

Forget About the Future?

This year, I have many life-changing events happening in a short time: selling my home of 11 years, packing and moving my belongings from southern California to Arizona, camping with my brother's family before finding a rental house to move my stuff into, finding-nailing down-starting a new job, and more! So much is unknown, and I'm a planner, so this is uncomfortable change.

Did you make New Year’s resolutions? Sometime in the next months, you’ve decided to lose weight, learn a language, find a significant other, start voice lessons, stop bad habits, exercise more, or clean the garage. Most people forget or break their resolutions within two weeks of making them.

Recently, a song which had been just background noise, arrested me with the line, “Forget about the future, let’s get on with the past.”

That’s pretty anti-committal and unwilling to face the uncertainty of the unknown. But how many of us have done that? (Over and over?) Don’t raise your hands—we’re all pretty obvious. All right, let’s not forget about the future, or get on with the past, but maybe we could concentrate on the present at least?

That never-say-die apostle Paul wrote, “Forgetting what is behind [the past] and straining toward what is ahead [the future], I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.”

Straining toward the future! Every morning at 5:30, my Border collie acts like a Siberian husky, pulling me along, choking in her eagerness to sniff the next tree in the parkway. There’s high tension in that leash, as I drowsily stumble along behind, mumbling, “Slow down, doggie! It’s too early to be enthusiastic.”

The thought that God wants me to strain toward what is ahead is a hard teaching. We all tend to “think differently,” but God intends to make it clear that instead of our being a reluctant Jonah, He wants us to take the path of least resistance to Him. God will lead us toward the goal and its prize. And it seems clear from His Word that He wants us to forget the past and get on with the future. If there’s no tension on your spiritual collar, you’re not really straining. Where is God leading today? Get out there, and pull like a working dog!

We Shall Be Changed

We will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye. 1 Corinthians 15:51 NIV

Sign on a church nursery door: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.” As a teenager, I worked for a Nazarene church on Sunday mornings, where I was in charge of 20 to 30 babies every week. My helpers and I changed every child’s diapers multiple times. We learned that even the stinkiest substances wash off with soap. But I don’t think that kind of changing is quite what the apostle meant!

Let’s go back to Paul’s discussion: what happens when Jesus comes. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed… But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52, 57, 58 NIV

It’s been quite a year, filled with long hours, events and projects that came to fruition, accomplishments at church and work, improving the home and garden, struggling with a healthy lifestyle, and challenges in the family. Some of us lost jobs and income, lost friends in relationship changes, lost loved ones to death, lost savings or pension to the economy...

The important thing to remember, though, is to not lose heart, but give yourself fully to whatever work God calls you to do. All that labor, though it may seem foolish to a secular-minded person, is not in vain. It’s not silly to God. He values the efforts we make. Who has not assigned a task to a child or subordinate, and thought, “I could finish this in a tenth of the time it takes me to teach it.” Creator-God could speak or even think the word, and it would be accomplished, but how would we grow or learn, or value the fruits of our labors? The very acts of planning, executing, and following up, are the methods God uses to change us.

Change, whether it’s lifestyle or attitude, is difficult when we attempt it alone. Trying to be good is completely impossible! But Jesus said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Luke 18:27 NIV

He can do it in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye.

Wait five minutes and it’ll change

You bless all of those who trust you, LORD, and refuse to worship idols or follow false gods. Psalm 40:4 CEV

Life in the Southwestern United States has its advantages when it comes to the cool season. We have gorgeous winters with clear, crisp air, and brief storms, and nearby are mountains with snowy mantles to remind us how, just a few miles from that snow, we are able to wear flip-flops for gardening, even in winter. The downside is that we get windy blasts after each storm, which blow desert dust over the cities, knock down palm fronds and uproot large trees, and blow big vehicles off the highways.

In general, the weather is predictable. All summer long, it’s hot, rainless, and smoggy in California; and in Arizona, there are monsoon thunderstorms rolling off the piney mountains and down across the sun-blasted desert. All winter, there are long periods of perfect weather punctuated by welcome rains.

My friends in Oregon and Georgia, though, say that if you don’t like the weather there, wait five minutes and it’ll change. In their pop-up downpours, there’s almost no oxygen for the water falling so densely!

Life on Earth is always changing. All lives, flora and fauna, are made to change from conception until death, and even then, we “push up daisies!” Change is inevitable, but many of us find change frightening because we can’t see the future and plan for it or take control of a situation. We are helpless to change the weather, our stature, or the future (Matthew 6:25-34).

Perhaps God forbade our consultation with astrologers, mediums, or the occult because our not knowing the future places us, like trusting, innocent children, in God’s hands where we belong. “Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.” Psalm 40:4 NIV

He Who is unchangeable and holds our destiny, is preparing a home for us where we can forget all the stress and hassle of changing. Our joy and peace, our fuller knowledge of God’s grace and character, and our love for each other will increase through the ages of eternity.